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NOTES 



ON THE 



SEA-SHORE 



OB 



MNDOM SKETCHES, 



In relation to the ancient town of Hull , its settlement, its inhabitants, and its social 
and political institutions ; to the fisEene^, fishing parties, and boat sailing ; to Boston 
harbor and its islands ; to Plymouth, Cohasset, Hingham, Weymouth, Squantum, 
Quincy, &c. ; to wrecks and wreckers ; to an indignation meeting at Hull, to 
protest against the frequency of shipwi'ecks on our coast ; anecdote of Mitchell, and 
a sketch of his character ; to the ministers of Hull, from its first settlement ; to the 
Massachusetts Humane Society ; to the disastrous effects of the sea upon the islands 
in Boston harbor ; to remarkable fish stories, and the making of fish and clam chow- 
ders ; to frog-fishing, clam-digging, lobster-catching, and hog-killing, at Hull ; in short, 
to some two or three hundred other interesting subjects, all of which are noticed in the 
table of contents. 



BY THE SHADE OF ALDEN." 




HE WHO MAKES TWO MEN LAUGH WHERE ONLY ONE LAUGHED BEFORE, 
IS A BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN RACE. 



BOSTON: j 
PUBLISHED BY REDDING & CO., STATE STREET, 

AND FOR SALE BY BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY. 

1848. 



PUBLISHED AT THE REQUEST OE SOME OE THE AUTHOR'S FRIENDS, 



RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 



To that popular revenue officer and generous liearted friend of seamen and of the Iniinan race, 



CAPT. JOSIAH STURGIS, 



The NSPTCNE of Boston Bay and its neighboring waters, and a Boston Bor. 



Entered according to Act of CongreBs, in tlie year 1S48, by 

WILLIAM C H A D W I C K , 

In tlie Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetta. 



■WHiLIAM CHADWICK, PRINTER, EXCHANGE STREET. 






CONTENTS OF BOOK I. 



TiTLK Page. 

Dedication. 

Frontispiece — an engraving, representing a 
fasiiionable fishing party — "someofonr first men" 
— engaged in the various pursuits and amuse- 
ments common on such occasions. It is a hu- 
morous picture, ingeniously designed, and hand- 
somely executed. 

Prefatory Remarks. 

letters from hull. 
Letter I. Hull; the fisheries; fat mackerel ; 
the mackerel fishery in general, but particularly 
in Hull Bay; lobster catching, and some account 
of" the trade ; hints to young fishermen, wilh re- 
gard to their dress, lines, manner of fishing, &c. ; 
some remarks touching the dangers of boat sail- 
ing, by inexperienced persons. 

II. The town of Hull, its inhabitants, and 
their pursuits ; wrecks and wreckers ; the Mas- 
sasoii ; lile-boats and humane-houses ; danger of 
travelling on Nantasket beach during a NE. snow 
storm ; state of religion and religious feeling in 
Hull; its ministers, lawyers, and physicians ; the 
Boston Light ; Long- Island Head, and the inner 
light-house ; Rainsford-lsland ; the cutter Ham- 
ilton, and Captain Sturgis; Deer- Island, and the 
new hospital. 

III. The ministers of Hull from its first settle- 
ment ; protection given to fishermen by the colo- 
nial legislative assembly ; names of some of the 
early settlers ; condition of the town during the 
revolutionary war ; destruction of the meeting- 
house, by the September gale of 1815 ; state of 



political parties ; the richest widow in Hull ; the 
steamer Britannia passing up light-house chan- 
nel at day-break ; wreck of a French 74 ; origin 
of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany. 

IV. The town of Hull again ; its situation, 
fields, vegetation, fruit trees, roads, population, 
and its public school ; employment of its females, 

1 and the severe treatment they receive from two 
or three contractors, connected with large tailor- 
ing establishments ; the cause of temperance, and 
one of Father Bates's excellent anecdotes; an 
anecdote about Capt. Mitchell, the suspected 
smuggler, and Mr. John Mmot, the vigilant ex- 
custom-house officer — sketch of Mitchell's char- 
acter. 

V. The Massachusetts Humane Society, and 
its importance to the human race. 

VI. Disastrous effects of the sea upon the 
islands in Boston harbour ; the Great Brewster, 
Point Alderton, Long- Island Head, &c. ; an ap- 
peal to congress in favor of sea-walls ; the fort 
at Hull ; pleasure parties ; Ware River ; the 
berry region in Hingham and Cohasset ; terrible 
shipwreck of an Eastern packet schooner, with 
all her passengers, on Lovell's- Island, some 
twenty-five years ago ; Gallop's Island. 

VII. Public and private houses at Nantasket, 
their situation, and conveniences ; mosquitoes ; 
poetry ; disagreeable lodgings, and poor fare, at 
some of the boarding-houses ; the fishing philos- 
opher at Cohasset ; Mr. Webster's country seat, 
at Marshfield, and his chowders ; prop-shaking, 
near Worrick's, twenty years ago, on a Sunday, 
and the remarkable discovery of the party ; tele- 
graphic establishment at Hull, and that at Bos- 



IV 



CONTENTS. 



ton ; Mr. Pope and Capt. Brown ; the channels l hasset, Weymouth, &c. ; the manufacturing es- 
in Boston harbour ; Dearborn's chart of the isl- ' tablishments in that region ; hotels, and private 
ands and bay. boarding-houses. 



VIII. The way to make fish and clam chow- 
ders, and to cook eels ; remarks on the decline 
of the noble scienceof cooking among the young 
ladies of the present.day ; a laughable note about 
chowders ; remarkable fish stories. 

IX. The fort at George's- Island ; description 
of the work there ; progress made in the work ; 
the dungeon for prisoners ; the sea-wall ; the 
Great Brewster ; Nix's Mate ; the fort at Castle 
Island ; a negro forced, to ride a wooden horse 
there. 

X. Further remarks in relation to the town 
of Hull, and its products ; frog fishing ; clam 
digging at Long Beach; story about large clams; 
gunning parties ; sites in Hull for cottages; salt- 
works of INIr. Henry Tudor; young Reed, the 
industrious shoemaker; sea-bathing; an expert 
female diver and swimmer; introduction of the 
art of swimming among females ; politics in 
Hull ; its representative, Mr. M. B. Tower, who 
made Marcus Morton Governor of Massachu- 
setts by his single vote ; boat sailing, and the 
Hull boatmen. 

LETTERS FROM HINGHAM. 

1. The steamer Mayflower; Captain Beal ; 
travelling on the South Shore— Hingham, Co- 



2. Plymouth ; the places passed by the May- 
flower, on her trips to Hingham — South Boston, 
the Houses of Correction, Industry, and Refor- 
mation lor Juvenile Oflenders ; the Hospital and 
Lunatic Asylum ; the Farm School ; Deacon 
Grant ; the old race course at Neponset ; horse- 
racing in general — contest between Eclipse and 
Henry ; Squantum, as it was thirty years ago, 
and as it is at the present time ; an account of 
the old Squantum feasts— the late Alajor Russell 
and Marshal Prince ; anecdote in relation to 
them ; the town of Quincy — the late John Adams, 
his wife, and John Quincy Adams ; the granite 
ledges, &c. 



Improvements in Hull and its vicinity, from 
1S45 to 1S4S. 

An account of an indignation meeting, held by 
the citizens of Hull, in June, 1S4S, to consider the 
alarming frequency of shipwrecks on their shores 
of late, together with the resolutions adopted on 
the occasion, the speeches made, &c. 



Table of Contents of Book II. 



PREFATORY REMARKS. 



During the summer of 1845 a number of letters from Hull were pub- 
lished m the Boston Post, and, unexpectedly to the writer of them, 
attracted considerable attention, and some commendation. They were 
hastily written, to "kill time," at moments when it was inconvenient to 
fish, or to indulge in any of the other amusements so common at the 
numerous places of summer resort on the New-England sea-shore. Since 
their first appearance, the author of them has been repeatedly advised to 
publish the whole series, in pamphlet form ; and, in accordance with the 
recommendation of his friends, he now throws before the reading public a 
work which, while it may contribute to the amusement and instruction of 
the votary of innocent pleasure, in his hours of leisure and recreation, he 
humbly trusts will give offence to no one. 

This work embraces not only the letters which appeared in the paper 
referred to, — as revised, and with copious additions, — but contains, also, 
several others, which were written about the same time, but which have 
not before been published : owing to the lateness of the travelling season, 
they were withheld by the writer of them, and have been seasoning ever 
since. These relate to Plymouth, New-Bedford, Nantucket, and many 
other places on the South-Shore — to Squantum and Neponset, previous to 
and since the commencement of the present century — to Apple and Deer 
Islands, and some interesting and romantic incidents connected with them 
— to Point Shirley and its vicinity, to Philhps's Beach, Nahant, Cape Ann, 
Newburyport, Salem, Lynn, East-Boston, Chelsea, Charlestown, and 
some other places on the North-Shore — and, finally, to the delightful rides 
which the city of Boston and its vicinity afford, not only to our own resi- 



Vi PREFATORY REMARKS. 



dents, but to the thousands of intelHgent strangers who honor the 
metropolis of New-England with a visit during the summer months, in 
search of health and innocent amusement. The whole series, the writer 
has the vanity to believe, will be read with interest, especially by those 
who are at all acquainted with the scenes and the circiuustances he has — 
feebly, he is apprehensive — attempted to describe. 

The descendants of the Pilgrims, who landed on. Plymouth rock, are 
scattered broadcast through the length and breadth of this favored land; 
while the seas of every ocean are whitened with the canvass of their mer- 
chants and mariners. There is not a true New-England man but will 
rejoice to be carried back to the endearing scenes of his childhood — to the 
islands, and the shores, in and about Boston bay. 

At least two-thirds of this work may be considered /^^esA matter. The 
FIRST PART of it relates, in a considerable degree, to fishing and the fish- 
eries, and kindred subjects, all of which are important to the people of the 
New-England coast, vast numbers of whom obtain their livelihood by a 
skilful and industrious use of the line, hook and sinker. In the words of 
one of our ablest native poets we are thus reminded of this fact : — 

" On the Banks of Newfoundland, 
Let your boats and tars command ; 
For a mine of wealth you keep, 
In the bank beneath the deep — 
Whose charter, glorious charter, 
Is renewed by every sea !" 

The hints given to young amateur fishermen, and those relating to the 
dangers of boat-sailing, have not before been published. l?o is it with the 
notes, the appendix, and other parts of the book, which cannot fail to be 
acceptable to strangers, and all others who visit the sea-shore. Original 
matter has been everywhere introduced. The letters relating to the Hu- 
mane Society, and the places passed by the steamer Mayflower, on her 
way to Hingham — South-Boston, the Farm School, Fort Independence, 
Squantum, duincy. &c. — are of this character. 

The SECOND PART of this work, with the exception of a page or two, is 
all new matter. Some of the stories introduced may be familiar to a 
limited number of readers ; the probability is, however, that they will be 
new to four-fifths of all who may feel disposed to read them. 



PREFATORY REMARKS.' VU 



The question may be asked, — " "What does the writer expect to gain by 
pubHshing a work of this kind — is it fame, or money 7" Our plain and 
candid answer is, — We hope to make something by its pubHcation ; and, 
also, that it may be deemed worthy of the patronage of the reading and 
travelling community. Of fame, the writer has as much as he desires — 
such as it is : his ambition, in that respect, is satisfied. He has outlived 
almost all of his old school associates and social companions ; has been 
successfully through many of the Unpropitious and checkered scenes of 
life ; and now, with a pretty good constitution left, his physical and 
mental faculties unimpaired, he commences the world anew. This is fame 
enoiigh for any man of modest pretensions. 

But, we must be brief. Without another word, explanatory of the 
object we have in view in writing and printing this work, we most respect- 
fully throw our bantling into the arms of a generous, discriminating 
public, and are willing to await the result patiently. We think that, like 
all our other little " responsibilities," it bears the parental impress upon 
its very face ; and, while we invite, rather than shun, manly criticism — 
for that is beneficial — we pray that it may not be hastily strangled by ill- 
natured scribblers. 

If the " Notes" now offered should prove acceptable, the writer will soon 
prepare others, upon subjects somewhat different. He has endeavoured 
to avoid all impure thoughts and sentences in the pages of this work, and 
can therefore confidently recommend it to youthful readers, of both sexes, 
as well as to their mothers and grand-mothers, as one which will not cor- 
rupt their morals, if it do not instruct their minds. Its style is simple and 
comprehensive. The article relating to the improvements in Hull was 
written three or four weeks since. 

Boston, July Wih, 1848. 



THE SOUTH SHORE. 



LETTER I. 

Hull — the fisheries— fat mackerel — tlie mackerel 
fishery in general, but particularly in Hull hay — 
lobster catching, and Oie lobster trade — hints to 
young fishermen — boat sailing, ^x. 

Hull, Jcly, 1845. 
It has occurred to me that the readers 
of the Post would like to receive some 
information in relation to the state of the 
fisheries in this region ; and, as I have a 
few leisure hours daily to appropriate to 
their gratification, they shall be accommo- 
dated. My residence in Hull three or four 
weeks last summer, and about as long this, 
enables me to speak correctly upon this 
subject. Now, to the work, at once. 

The Mackerel Fishery. 
I have learned, with much pleasure, that 
the fisheries in general, but the mackerel 
fishery especially, are in a most prosperous 
condition. Who is there that does not 
love a fat mackerel ? It is a creature com- 
fort of vast importance to every man of 
taste, not only in New-England, but in all 
sections of our country. It is to man what 
salt hay is to a horse. Wherever the Eng- 
lish language is spoken, wherever a New- 
Englander is found — from Cape Cod to the 
Rocky Mountains — you will there hear the 
praises of fat mackerel sounded by honest 
and fervent lips. In the Western states, 



fat mackerel take the lead of all other fish. 
Pickled salmon and shad are " no touch" 
to them, on the score of delicacy and sweet- 
ness. 1 make these remarks, ray dear 
colonel, not to enlist your sympathies in 
favour of fat mackerel, for I know that it 
is in your very nature to love them, but for 
the purpose of introducing to your readers 
some interesting facts. Whoever knew a 
sensible, good-natured editor, to turn from 
a fat mackerel to pick the bones of a lean 
shad ? 

Hull is sustained almost entirely by the 
fisheries. Three quarters of her active 
population get a living in fishing-boats — 
either in the cod or mackerel fishery. At 
this moment the town is almost deserted 
by those who sound the deep with their 
hooks and sinkers, and draw from it its 
rich treasures, to nourish the people and 
sustain themselves. With two of these 
hardy fellows, just returned home, I have 
conversed, and learn that the mackerel 
fishery was never better than it is the pre- 
sent season. From Cape Ann on the one 
side, and from Plymouth on the other, to 
Boston light, the waters of our noble bay 
are literally swarming with mackerel ; — 
vessels have been known to return home, 
after an absence of only two weeks, with 
from eighty to a hundred barrels — a thing 
entirely new. 

All the people of this town are mackere! 



10 



NOTKS ON TUE SKA-SHOUE 



mad, if I may so express myself, and there 
is cause for it. Not only do mackerel 
abound in Boston bay, and far beyond it, 
both on the North and Soutli shores, but 1 
understand they have found their way into 
every river and creek in this section of our 
country : they have been caught even in 
Boston, from the wharves. The waters of 
Hull bay are filled with them, and they 
even run up as far as Hingham, Quincy, 
&c. I am credibly informed that not less 
than two hundred barrels have been taken 
in the last three weeks, inside the Gut, 
within a stone's throw of Tudor's salt- 
works. What a year for mackerel ! There 
are some fifty boats in Hull bay every day 
from Boston, Hingham, INIiiton, Quincy, 
&c. the hands of which appear to have full 
business. A friend and myself a fevi' 
mornings since caught three hundred good 
sized fellows in four hours. The sport was 
exciting — excellent. The next morning, 
we did quite as well. There are others 
who can tell as good if not a better story.* 
A party of four gentlemen, from Hingham, 
brought in a barrel this forenoon after fish- 
ing six hours. My friend Tower, who is a 
skilful fisherman, and has the reputation 
of keeping an excellent hotel, owns four 
or five boats, all of which have been suc- 
cessfully engaged daily, in the hands of 
amateurs from the city, for a fortnight past. 
These facts, I have supposed, would be 
read with pleasure by all who are fond of 
fishing — and who is notlf 

(*NoTE— .Tune, 1848.)— This was a re- 
markable season for mackerel. Although 
the letter was written in July, and the fish- 
ery did not close until October, it may be 
mentioned that the value of the mackerel 
brought into Cape Ann alone, in 1845, was 
about half a million of dollars, against 
fifty thousand in 1844. 

t Among other distinguished men who 
have been, or are, passionately fond of 
fishing, we may mention Sir Humphrey 
Davy, Dr. Paley, Sir Walter Scott, Benja- 
min West, Chantry, poets and historians 
almost innumerable, besides learned men 
of every degree and profession. We might 
add the names of Alartiu Van Buren and 
Daniel Webster, and many of the promi- 
nent members of the M. C. Association. 



I would advise some of your young 
friends, who have a taste for this sport, 
to turn their attention to Hull bay at this 
time. Let them come down in the Hing- 
ham steamer, or in a pleasure-boat. A 
small line, a common tomcod hook, and a 
very light sinker, are all that a fisherman 
requires ; bait is always at hand, for, like 
most of the human species, mackerel will 
feed upon each other. But mackerel are 
more considerate than some men ; they 
will bite at a white rag, or a particle of salt 
pork, when they can get nothing better. 
I have caught many a good-sized mack- 
erel on a hook bailed only with a small 
piece of white cotton cloth. Generally 
speaking, these active fish jump at the bait 
without stopping to taste or smell of it be- 
fore biting : it is not so with most other 
species of the finny tribe. Capt. James, 
of this place, who has been for many years 
engaged in the fisheries, informs me that 
he has often known mackerel to bite so 
greedily, when plenty, that they would 
jump a foot out of water to seize the bait. 
To some persons this may seem like what 
is occasionally called a " fish story" — very 
like a whale ! — but no experienced fisher- 
man will doubt its truth. 

The Cod Fishery. 
The cod fishery, I am happy to learn, 
is also in a thriving condition ; but not in 
Boston bay. as many parties who have been 
'•' down below" can certify. I have tried 
three several times within the last ten days 
to catch a codfish for a chowder, and was 
unsuccessful each time. An experience 
of thirty years as an amateur fisherman 
induces me to believe that, if there had 
been any fish at the bottom of the sea, that 
part of it where I threw my hooks over, I 
should certainly have caught one of them. 

The latter are merely suspected of being so. 
It is said that Lord Nelson was so fond of 
the sport, that he fished with his left hand 
a long time after he had lost his right. 
Mr. Webster is famous for making and 
eating chowders, and Mr. Van Buren for 
catching pike and pickerel for others to 
eat — a disinterested old fellow, that ! 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



11 



But the best of fishermen are often doomed 
to disappointment in this way. 

The Lobster Fishery. 
Lobsters are caught in great abundance 
on the shores of Hull. Thousands of them 
are sent up to Boston annually. The fish- 
ermen engaged in that business prepare 
their bait — sculpins, flounders, &c. cut in 
pieces — set their pots, and pnll them once 
a day, taking from fifty to one hundred at 
each pull, throw them into their boats, 
cover them with sea-weed, then row for 
home, and put them into cars just inside 
tlie Gut: each fisherman has a car of his 
own — the lines and pots some of them own, 
others are furnished. Lobsters are deliv- 
ered at the Point, at the rate of S3 a ^4 
50 per hundred ; they are taken to Boston 
and Charlestown, by wholesale dealers, 
two or three times a week — there they are 
boiled, and delivered to the men who retail 
them in those cities. Sometimes the ped- 
lers get caught, late in the evening, as our 
newsboys do, and have too many documents 
for one day ; but, in pretty cool weather, 
they give them another souse, the next 
morning, in boiling water, and they come 
out, like re-boi!ed corn in New- York, 
"piping: hot, smoking hot!" — almost as 
good as new. They do not imitate the 
practice of the late Miss Sally Smink, of 
the South-End. who used to wash her mo- 
ther's pudding-bag in cold water, much 
against the old lady's will. A fresh lob- 
ster, eaten at Hull or Nahant, is a very 
different thing from one purchased in Bos- 
ton, Like salmon, and most other kinds 
of fish, lobsters soon lose much of their 
original flaror.* 

Hints to Inexperienced Fishermen. 
I have half a mind to venture a few hints 
to young beginners as fishermen. I allude 

(*NoTE— June 30, 1848.)— Down to this 
period, about 100,000 lobsters have been 
taken this year on the shores between 
Long-Island and Scituate, on one side of 
the bay, and Deer-Islaud and Mahant, on 
the other. IVlessrs. Simpson, of S. Boston, 
and Young, of Charlestown, are the princi- 
pal purchasers. The season lasts from four 
to five months. 



to that numerous class of youthful aspirants 
many of whom I have often seen on fishing 
excursions, dressed in fine broadcloth and 
cassimere. Nothing can be in worse taste 
than this, for there is not, in my opinion, 
any amusement — except, perhaps, it be 
clam-diggmg — that is so indescribably 
dirty as bay-fishing. 

Every person " going down below," as 
you Bostonians term it, should put on 
clothing entirely worthless ; or, if he have 
on a pair of decent dress-pantaloons, he 
should be careful to carry with him a pair 
of overalls, made of oil-cloth, Lidia-rubber, 
or some other material impervious to wa- 
ter, to guard his pantaloons, not only while 
fishing, but while knocking about in the 
boat for any other purpose — for slime, or 
tar, or some other adhesive dirt, will be 
sure to meet him in every direction, and 
stick to him, too, "closer than a brother." 
He who touches pitch will be defiled, as 
the world have been told. A trout fisher- 
man, striving to coax some monarch of the 
brook to snap at his fascinating hook, 
would not appear more ridiculous, to a 
practised eye, in pumps, silk stockings, 
and white drilling pantaloons, than some 
of our genteel novices do in Boston bay, 
with fine clothes on, while catching cod, 
haddock and sculpins. 

It is to be supposed, that every sensible 
young fisherman will take with him a short 
jacket or a thin sack, to use while fishing 
— unless the weather is so warm that h« 
can fish in his shirt sleeves; and a coarse 
shirt is better than a fine one for the occa- 
sion. If his constitution is delicate, he can 
wear flannel next to his skin. An outside 
wrapper is often indispensable upon the 
water, as our Easterly winds sometimes 
cut like the knife of a Lynn shoemaker. 
The older his boots are the better. A light 
straw hat is desirable, as the sun beats 
down with tremendous force upon the wa- 
ter, in the sunamer months ; and yet, if 
there is any breeze, one hardly feels the 
scorching influence of old Sol's beams, so 
exciting are the scenes around him. A 
sun-burnt face, the next day, tells the story 



12 



NOTES ON THE SKA-SnORK ; 



in smarting colors ! To prevent this, in 
some degree, I would advise the sulFerer 
to bathe his face well with warm milk and 
water, on his return home : I have often 
tried this remedy with success. 

Now, as the toggery of our younij fish- 
erman is fairly pointed out, permit me to 
say a few words to him in relation to his 
fishing-gear — and these hints I desire him 
to remember, if he expects to enjoy the 
healthful, innocent, popular sport of fish- 
ing. It certainly is an innocent pleasure ; 
for, if it be not a sin to eat a fish on Friday, 
it surely cannot be so to catch one on 
Thursday. From the time of the flood, 
this maxim has been considered sound and 
rational; but there is some doubt whether 
Noah or Adam caught the first fish. 

If he is in quest of cod and haddock, 
let him prepare a line for himself — instead 
of trusting to the clumsy and imperfect 
lines usually provided for fishing excur- 
sions by "caterers," as they who furnish 
parties with bad lines and worse fare are 
sometimes ludicrously called : he should 
be independent, in this respect, as the old 
woman was who bought a new gridiron. 
I have always found medium-sized lines, 
hooks and sinkers preferable to the heavier, 
clumsy articles referred to. Nine times 
out of ten, on any fishing-ground — from 
Nahant Point to the Harding's Ledge — 
and at almost any state of the tide, a sinker 
"weighing a pound and a half is sufficiently 
heavy, if the line be correspondingly light 
— especially, as the boat is usually per- 
mitted to drift with the tide. The smallest 
cod-line and the smallest cod-hook made, 
are recommended as decidedly the best. 
I always fish with these, and have been 
rarely disappointed in, or dissatisfied with, 
my labours, from the day I first discarded 
the use of large lines, heavy sinkers, and 
over-sized hooks, which will do very well 
for our market fishermen, men of experi- 
ence and iron nerves, who go among the 
" monarchs of the deep" far off shore, and 
occasionally grapple with a hallibut, or for 
the Grand Bank fishery. Care should be 
observed, when pulling in a fish, that your 



hooks do not catch in ihe side of the boat 
— if they do, the points will probably 
break. In fishing for cod and haddock, 
and perch, the hooks should be two or three 
feet from the bottom ; for flounders, they 
should lie upon the bottom. This simple 
fart is of importance to young beginners. 

By using a small-sized cod-hook, a fish- 
erman will often entice a flounder, a perch, 
or some other .small-mouthed fish, to favour 
his line with a bite, when cod and had- 
dock are scarce ; and it is not difficult for 
them to get a taste of such a hook, as well 
as of the bait, while their delicately formed 
mouths can do nothing with the larger one. 
Too large a bait, clumsily put on, is about 
as objectionable as a mammoth-hook. 

In these remarks, the writer intends 
merely to speak of his own experience, 
which has not been inconsiderable : he 
does not wi.sh to dictate to any one, nor to 
be considered as speaking ex-cathedra. If 
they should prove serviceable, he will be 
gratified ; if unacceptable, he will not be 
displeased, for, upon this point, he ieels 
remarkably independent. 

Every fisherman, who is a fisherman, 
should be able to gange his own hooks, 
and be careful that they are well-ganged, 
as, when he has a large cod on, he has 
great power to pull against. A compact 
reel for the line is preferable to a large one. 
No young man who studies true happi- 
ness should go down below, (in a piscatory 
sense) without a supply of hooks, ganged : 
hooks are oftener lost upon a rocky bot- 
tom, than broken or stolen by fish. It is 
always well, too, if one wants to carry the 
" sports of the day" straight out, to take 
with him a line for small fish, as the boat 
is sometimes becalmed, and compelled 
to anchor, near a shore where there is ex- 
cellent fishing for tomcod, flounders, eels, 
or perch. And here 1 would remark, that 
a strong, well-made perch hook, is the best 
that can be used on such occasions. 

A sharp jacknife is always a good com- 
panion on the water ; and no true fisher- 
man will fail to furnish himself with one, 
as well as with a small basket to carry his 
lines and other " fixins" in. 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



13 



Thus equipped, our young friends will 
be considered and accepted, as genuine 
disciples of Izaak Walton ; and, in time, 
they cannot fail to do satisfactory execu- 
tion among the small-fry, as well as among 
the monster-codfish. 

I shall say no more at present, but leave 
every inquirer after truth to seek his own 
happiness at the hands of young Bradford, 
who keeps all kinds of fishing apparatus, 
at his popular depot, near the Old South 
church. 

Dangers attending Boat Sailing. 

And now, my dear colonel, for a few 
remarks about the dangers attending boat- 
sailing. I often- think of the terrible acci- 
dent v^-hich occurred several years ago, 
near Thompson's Island, by which over 
twenty pupils of the Farm School were 
drowned. This accident was doubtless 
caused by carelessness on the part of those 
who had the management of the boat — 
and it is not too much to say, that nine- 
tenths of all the accidents of the kind spring 
from ignorance and carelessness. A sail- 
boat is one of the most dangerous things 
in the world, in the hands of an ine.xperi- 
enced landsman : he had better attempt to 
subdue and manage a wild animal, or to 
break an obstinate, high-mettled colt, than 
to break his own neck on the water; and 
yet how many rash blockheads there are, 
who are willing to risk not only their own 
jives, but those of their companions, by un- 
dertaking to sail a boat in a high wind, and 
who understand as little the properties of a 
boat, the tiller and the rudder, as they do 
of the power of her sails. This is a lament- 
able fact. There ought to be a law to 
restrain such fellows from having the con- 
trol of boats, under any circumstances, or 
even of mud-scows, if they are deeply la- 
den and carry canvass. It takes years of 
severe experience to learn to sail a boat 
well — it is not the work of a month, nor 
even of six months, to acquire a skilful 
knowledge of boat-sailing. I say noth- 
ing of the dangerous shoals and rocks, and 
other numerous bad places, among the isl- 
ands in Boston harbour — that is a matter 



of vast importance, it is true ; but I wish 
to speak of the danger of oversetting or 
swamping boats, in deep water, through 
ignorance, carelessness, or mismanage- 
ment, in jibing, in trimming the sails, reef- 
ing, or in steering. On a party of plea- 
sure, for instance : the helm is very often 
entrusted ' to, or seized by, some novice, 
while the boatman runs forward to arrange 
the foresail and the jib, and to clear the 
halliards — the wind blowing heavy : the 
latter orders the helmsman to put the helm 
up, or hard-down, as the case may be— in 
two instances out of three, perhaps, his or- 
ders are not understood, or, in the hurry of 
the moment, are disobeyed — in short, the 
helm is put the wrong way ! The opera- 
tion of jibing, as every nautical man well 
knows, is an important one, and requires 
activity, caution, and judgment; nothing 
hut experience can perfect a man in this. 
Then, again, there is much danger from 
sudden squalls, or heavy puffs of wind, 
while shooting out from under the lee of 
an island, or any other large object. The 
wind will sometimes strike you with re- 
markable force in this way, and calcula- 
tion should be made to counteract its effect. 
I remember many accidents, some of them 
of a very serious character, which occurred 
in the manner I speak of. That which 
took place a short distance from Long- 
wharf, near the receiving-ship Ohio, a few 
years since, by which two young merchants 
were drowned ; and that to the Bunker- 
Hill, off Nahant, seventeen years ago, by 
which seven respectable citizens, married 
men, were drowned, arose from careless- 
ness. Hundreds of other cases might be 
named — one off Deer- Island especially, by 
which a party of sixteen persons, from 
Roxbury and Dorchester, barely escaped 
with their lives — one man was drowned. 
There are. some boatmen who would not 
hesitate to snvb a novice, if he should dare 
to touch the helm in rough weather. 
There are salutary laws to protect the pro- 
perty of persons exposed to danger, through 
the ignorance of master mariners ; but 
none to protect the lives of individuals from 
destruction, while in charge of inexperi- 



14 



NOTKS ON THE SEA-SIIORE ; 



cnced boatmen. No sail-boat should be 
permitted to leave the shore, with a sailing 
or fishing party, without she is in the hands 
of a careful and experienceil skipper. 
Kvory parent, every wife who loves her 
liusband, will feel the force of this remark. 
Many warm hearts— of fatliers, mothers, 
wives, and children — have been made to 
bleed by the accidents we speak of. The 
subject is especially interesting at this 
time, as the rising generation have an al- 
most inconquerable desire to own and sail 
boats, and to lose their lives in other places 
than the Frog- Pond, in Boston Common, 
without the consent of their parents. In 
too many instances their anxious mothers 
do not know they are out — and hence all 
the difficulty. But, "boys will be boys — 
all the world over :" they sometimes, how- 
ever, require a curb-rein, to keep them 
from the company of the legitimate bo- 
hoys. As Dr. Franklin, or some other phi- 
losopher used to say, " a stitch in time, 
saves nine." 



LETTER II. 

The town of Hall — its inhabitants and their pur- 
suits — ivrecks and ivreckers — the Massasoit — life- 
boats and humane houses — damjer of travelling 
on Nantaslcet beach during a snoujstonn — state 
of religion and religious feeling in Ilnll — min- 
isters, htivyers and phi/siciwis — Boston Light — 
Long Island Head, and the upper light house — 
liainsford Island. 

Hull, July, 1845. 
I have been spending a few days in Hull, 
a town celebrated for its diminutive size, 
the small number of its population, its pol- 
itics, its salt works and its fishermen, and 
the economical notions of its inhabitants 
generally; and I must confe.ss that I have 
been agreeably disappointed with almost 
every thing that I have seen. Desirous 
that others may participate in that feeling, 
and having a few leisure hours, I thought 
I could not render your readers a better 
eervice than by giving some account of a 
place of which they have often heard, but 
of the good qualities of which they are, for 



the most part, entirely ignorant — as I myself 
was until within a year or two. Many 
persons consider the inhabitants a race of 
Hottentots, or cannibals. I visited Hull 
two or three times some fifteen years ago, 
and according to the best of my recollec- 
tion its appearance has not much improved 
since that time. It is still, however, a very 
interesting place. I propose to furnish you 
with some historical and other details 
relating to it. 

The town of Hull. 
Barber's History of the Towns in Mass- 
achusetts, published in 1841, has merely a 
brief allusion to Hull. It saj-^s that it " was 
incorporated in 1644, and was once a place 
of some note." He does not state (he lime 
when, or for 'what particular quality, the 
town was a place of note. It has rather 
an equivocal notoriety now. Almost every 
one laughs when the name of the town is 
mentioned; and I suppose that circum- 
stance is attributable to the fact, that Hull 
is the least populous town in Massachusetts. 
But, with deference to others, I think this 
little town has many, very many good points. 
Its bold and enterprising inhabitants have 
saved the lives of hundreds of shipwrecked 
sailors, and that of itself is enough to 
immortalize the place, and give its peo- 
ple a fame that shall endure forever. — 
But they have much more of this yet to 
do! And I fear there are many tempest- 
tossed mariners who are doomed to buffet 
the waves, and some of them to find a 
watery grave in the vicinity of Point Alder- 
ton — the most ticklish place at lo\» water, 
that I have ever cast my eyes upon.* 

(*NoTK— June, 1848.) It is stated on the 
authority of a sermon delivered by Rev. 
Dr. Vinton, that, from tables actually antl 
carefully compiled, it is ascertained that 
3-5lhs of those who follow the sea die by 
shipwreck ! This is a large, and, we should 
say, extravagant estimate ; if correct, how- 
ever, it shows a degree of mortality among 
seamen of which we had no previous con- 
ception. It is added, that the average of 
deaths, annually, among this class, is eigh- 
teen thousand ; antl ihat in one winter alone, 
twenty-five hundred perished by shipwreck 
on the coast of New England. 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



15 



Wrecks and Wreckers. 

Hull is a great place for wreckers, and for 
wrecks. Mr. Tower, Mr. Mitchell, and 
some others, whose exertions have often 
been witnessed amidst the tempest and the 
storm on Nantasket beach and its vicinity, 
live in Hull. The former gentleman keeps 
the only hotel in the place ; he is visited 
every summer by thousands of persons — 
men, women and children — from Boston, 
Hingham, Weymouth, Quincy, Dorchester, 
Dedham, Roxbury, and other towns, who 
spend a day with him at his well regulated 
establishment, and then depart with feel- 
ings satisfied, and health improved. His 
charges are reasonable and his exertions 
to please untiring. He is a "prosperous 
gentleman," and keeps an excellent free- 
and-easy temperance house. Mr. Mitchell, 
a foreigner by birth, from small beginnings, 
has become quite a land holder here, and 
is said to be rich. He is as queer a fish, 
probably, as ever swam in these waters. 
He owns the piece of land on which the 
telegraphic establishment stands, and this 
embraces also the old fort built during the 
revolutionary war. This is an object of 
much interest to all who visit Hull. Within 
this fort, there is a well about ninety feet 
deep — and what is remarkable the bottom 
of it is twenty-five feet deep above the 
level of the road. 

It may be interesting to geologists to 
know, that, in digging this well, marine 
shells were found at the depth of seventy 
feet. I have this fact from old residents 
who lived in Hull during the revolution. 
This well was dug for the purpose of sup- 
plying the troops stationed there with water, 
as well as the crews of the vessels belong- 
ing to the squadron of Count de Grasse, 
which was anchored in the roads near the 
fort for a long time. The crews of this 
squadron were, I am informed by a vener- 
able lady, in the habit of bringing their 
clothes on shore at Hull for the purpose of 
washing them ; they often used to hang 
them on the tombstones in the burying 
ground to dry. It may be recollected that, 
'n 1827, Congress contemplated building 



a fort of the first class on the commanding 
site of which I am speaking, at an esti- 
mated cost of about seven hundred 
thousand dollars. If such a work had 
been accomplished, Hull would have held 
a proud eminence among her sister towns 
on the seaboard, instead of being in almost 
universal ridicule. 

On the beach, near Mr. Tower's hotel, 
lie the wrecked hulls of two or three vessels 
and masts and spars innumerable.* Some 
of the HuUonians are in the habit of buying 
wrecks, and then breaking them up — 
saving the iron, copper, and such other 
parts as are valuable, and using the wood 
for fuel. The wreck of the ill-fated Mas- 
sasoit, and that of the brig Tremont, cast 
away last winter at Point Alderton, have 
been entirely broken up, and the materials 
are piled up mountain high before the 
house of Mr. Mitchell, who has enough of 
this kind of stuft" to load a ship of three 
hundred tons. He is a wholesale dealer 
in wrecked vessels — in old masts, spars, 
rigging, iron, and brass. The wreck of the 
old brig Favorite lies upon the beach, as 
does that of the schooner Emeline, both of 
which vessels, heavily laden, were sunk, 
some three or four years since, off Nantas- 
ket beach, and afterwards raised by Mitchell 
and others, on shares, and towed into Hull 
bay. I think they must have lost money 
by these jobs. The hull of the Favorite, 
at low water, vi'as formerly used as a shel- 
ter for horses, when the stable of Mr. Tower 
was full : it is now too deeply embedded 
in the sand for that purpose. There are 
numerous relics of the old ship Mohawk, 
which was wrecked off P. Alderton, with a 
valuable cargo, from Liverpool : her figure- 
head decorates one of Mitchell's buildings : 
her round-house he uses as a counting- 
room, and for other purposes. I have been 
informed that, at one period, the inhabi- 
tants held their political and town meetings 
in this accidental fixture, but I have my 
doubts. At any rate, the school house, a 
diminutive ten-footer, is used for this pur- 
pose. It is also used for religious purposes, 

*NoTE — See Appendix, (A.) 



16 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIOKE 



it being the only "public building" of any 
kind in Hull, except the poor-house, which 
is tenantless — the town preferring to board 
its paupers out, at Cohasset, rather than 
support them luxuriantly, on clams and 
fried eels, at home. 

At the suggestion of Capt. Sturgis and 
Mr. Tower, the Humane Society have 
recently erected a new boat house on the 
north side of Stony beach, near Point 
Alderton, in which there is an elegant, 
substantial, copper-fastened life-boat, of 
extensive dimensions. I should think it, 
capable of holding thirty or forty persons, 
besides her " gallant crew." She is cal- 
culated for eight oars. This boat was 
much wanted. There are now two excel- 
lent boats there, one of which is on the 
northeast side, besides "two humane 
houses," for the accommodation of ship- 
wrecked seamen. The people of Hull are 
now better prepared to render assistance 
to wrecked vessels and their crews than 
they ever were before.* I was talking 
with a friend last evening, in relation to 
the danger of travelling over Nantasket 
Long Beach during a violent N E. snow- 
storm. He related to me many "hair- 
breadth 'scapes," and one or two deaths, 
which had taken place within a few years. 
In one case, a young clergyman came 
near perishing about dusk on a sabbath 
evening. He had been as far as Hingham, 
to preach, and was returning to Hull when 
he was overtaken by a furious snow-storm. 
In a bewildered state, after riding to and 
fro a long time — as though kind Providence 
directed his course — his horse ran against 
one of the humane houses. He took it 
from the chai.se, and led it into the house, 
where he and his faithful animal spent the 
night, the wind and the snow driving 

(*NoTE — June 1848.) In riding over the 
beach a day or two since, we noticed that 
the "Humane Houses" were considerably 
out of repair. They are hardly tenantable, 
even for ship-wrecked sailors. The chim- 
ney of one of them has been blown down. 
The attention of the directors of the Hu- 
mane Society is respectfully called to this 
subject. 



furiously against their humble shelter. 
In the morning, he was found by some of 
the people of Hull, who had turned out in 
search of him — himself and horse both 
safe. At another time, a young man named 
Benjamin Hayden, who w^as employed by 
Mr. Tower as an hostler, while on his way 
home early on a Sunday evening from 
Cohasset, in a wagon, was overtaken byja 
severe storm, lost his way, was thrown 
into the water, and drowned. His lifeless 
body was recovered the next morning. 
The horses barely escaped. In one of these 
terrible storms, the surf is so high that no 
horse can keep near it; and, being com- 
pelled by the force of the waves to the top 
of the beach, the driver becomes confused, 
and, almost blinded by the driving sleet 
and snow, loses his course. The rest of 
the story may be imagined. 

Ministers in Hull. 
It is a remarkable fact that there is no 
settled minister in Hull ; but there is an 
excellent Sabbath school. Occasionally, 
at this season of the year, some straggling 
preacher comes along, and is invited to 
supply the pulpit for a few Sundays ; in 
the winter season preaching is more con- 
stant. Your correspondent — on account of 
his clerical looks, I suppose, for it could 
not have been on account of any rare min- 
isterial qualities he possesses— was last 
year invited to preach a sermon to the little 
flock which gathers in the school-house 
every Sunday for religious worship. It is 
enough to say that the whole affair was a 
mistake. I repeat, that it is surprising there 
is no settled minister in Hull, at this en- 
lightened era, inasmuch as it is recorded 
in the books that, for a period of more than 
one hundred years, from 1660, when the 
population was much smaller than it now 
is, there were several settled congregational 
ministers. But, at the time I refer to, 
there was but one kind of religion known 
amongst us, and one kind of religious 
teachers — the pure, unadulterated congre- 
gational; and, on that account, all could 
contribute cheerfully to the general fund 
for the support of some good, pious minis- 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



17 



ter. Now, almost every citizen of Hull 
has a religion of his own ; there is a slight 
sprinkling of Mormons and Latter Day 
Saints among the inhabitants, as well as 
Universalists, Baptists, Calvinists, Metho- 
dists, Unitarians, Catholics, and Sculpini- 
ans, (a sect who worship the head of a dried 
sculpin.) To this simple circumstance, 
undoubtedly, may be attributed the fact 
that there is no settled minister in Hull at 
this time and not to any parsimonious feeling 
the inhabitants, as a body, possess — so far 
as the salvation of their souls is concerned. 
Besides, the income from their parsonage 
lands amounts to almost enough to give a 
minister a decent support. And )'et I have 
heard that the last settled minister of Hull 
was fairly starved out, and that, though 
originally a corpulent man, he left the town 
in a very lean condiiion. The following 
anecdote is related of him : — 

One day, he accidentally heard there 
was a dead horse on Nantasket beach. 
With the rapidity of lightning he sped to 
the house of a neighbor and borrowed his 
mare, with the intention of proceeding to 
the beach to skin the dead animal, he 
knowing the value of a good horse-hide, 
well-cured. What was his surprise, on 
reaching- the spot, to find that the skin had 
been already taken away by one of his pa- 
rishoners! In surveying the carcase of 
the animal, however, with a heavy heart, 
his eyes wandered to its hoofs, on which 
he discovered a regular set of shoes. Ta- 
king out his jacknife^ he soon secured 
these, and, hastening home with them, 
sold them to Deacon Bubble for twenty- 
five cents. This shows he must have been 
a very poor man, and a very hungry one ; 
but, at the same time, a man of remarka- 
ble perseverance. 

That there is no settled minister in the 
town of Hull, is a fault ; it is a blemish 
on her otherwise fair character. It is 
creeping backward, instead of going ahead. 
Indeed, it is a monstrous degeneration 
from the days of our pious ancestors ; but 
I think I have fairly stated the cause of 
this defect. 

3 



It is creditable to the inhabitants of Hull 
that they can get along without the servi- 
ces of a lawyer — in a small town always a 
great nuisance, but, in a large, open, bust- 
ling, populous field, of some importance, 
when he is actuated by high-minded, hono- 
rable principles. Not only has the town 
no lawyerj but no physician lives within 
its borders. This is a " grievous fault," es- 
pecially when it is considered that that 
excellent injunction of the scriptures, " in- 
crease and multiply," is observed, very 
generally, by both sexes in Hull, who make 
a kind of religion of it. A capable young 
physician, who would be willing to spend 
a portion of his time in fishing for a liveli- 
hood, might find a pretty good opening at 
Hull, for the inhabitants are now entirely 
indebted to Hinghani for medical aid, when 
any of them are dangerously sick. 

The Light Houses. 

The Boston Light is now kept by a gen- 
tleman from Cohasset, named Cook. The 
light is a revolving one, and is eighty-two 
feet above the level of the sea — a flight of 
stone steps leads to the top of it, and this 
is always accessible to strangers visiting 
the island, which is easily approached by 
sail-boats, on the S W. side, where parties 
will find two excellent wharves, a conveni- 
ent landing, and a cordial reception. And 
why ? Uncle Sam pays for it all. — The 
late keeper of the island, Mr. Tower, died 
last summer, after a few days illness, hav- 
ing just previously lost a daughter, who 
also died suddenly. One would suppose 
that Light- House island was about the 
healthiest spot in the world ; but disease 
and death often creep into places where 
they are least expected. 

There was recently a " Spanish" cigar 
factory on the island — the operatives were 
young girls from Boston — it is now broken 
up. What a joke, this ! 

Nothing can look more brilliant, beauti- 
ful, or neighbourly, than the light does on a 
dark night, from the telegraphic station : 
it appears to be "just across the way," al- 
though the distance is about a mile and a 
half. 



18 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIORE 



The inner Light, on Long-Island Head, 
is kept by Capt. Charles Beck, who has 
discharged the duties of his office with 
fidelity for many years. Tlie rains, the 
frost and the sea have made, and are mak- 
ing, sad havoc with the blutl on this island, 
which is fast washing away ; and, not- 
withstanding this property, in part, belongs 
to the general government, no movement 
is making in congress to provide for the 
building of a sea-wall there. If the gov- 
ernment will do nothing for any one else, 
it ought surely to guard its own property, 
or the property of the sovereign people, 
from destruction. 

When it is ascertained, at this island, 
that any pilot-boat in the Bay has manned 
out all her pilots, a black-ball is hoisted to 
give the pilot-station in Boston notice of 
the fact. The boat conveys the informa- 
tion to Capt. Beck, by hoisting a blue-and 
white ball. 

JRainsford Island. 

According to my taste, however, the 
most beautiful spot in Boston harbour is 
Rain sford' Island, belonging to the city. 
Some twenty-five or thirty years ago, as I 
have understood, it was quite a mud-hole ; 
but, having undergone a complete renova- 
tion and improvement, under the direction 
of Dr. J. V. C. Smith, since that lime, it 
now looks like a richly cultivated garden 
and farm. The doctor is a gentleman of 
acknowledged taste, and, as you know, has 
tilled the office of port-physician for a long 
time. The keepers of Eainsford-Island 
have been numerous, and, as far as I re- 
collect, run thus, viz. : — Thomas Spear, 
Henry Spear, (his son) Moses L. Hobart, 
John Oliver, John Minot, George Tewks- 
bury, and Jonathan Bruce, the present 
keeper. Several persons lie buried there 
— some of them, in their day and genera- 
tion, were men of consequence. Since the 
old quarantine law, and the law regulating 
the removal of small-pox patients from the 
city, were abolished, Dr. Smith has had 
very little professional business at the isl- 
and. The city authorities, however, make 
considerable havoc there among clavn and 



fish-chowders, and other creature comforts, 
several times every year, — to say nothing 
of the oceans of punch and champagne 
drank by them and their favoured guests, — 
a custom which has been handed down 
from the palmy days of the accomplished 
Gov. Hancock ; but it will eventually have 
to yield to the pressure and influence of 
what is called the " temperance reform." 
Deacon Grant will not suffer such things 
to exist many years longer, depend upon it. 
This is to be regretted, as, by doing this, 
our municipal fathers innocently imagine 
that they are conferring an unspeakable 
benefit on their constituents, and, at the 
same time, lining their alderrnanic sto- 
machs with the '• best the market affords." 
Hush I — go to sleep.* 

(*NoTK— >JuNE. 1848.)— We spent a few 
hours on this* lovely spot a week ago. It 
looked as natural and blooming as it did 
three years ago — perhaps a few shades 
more beautiful. Mr. B. was preparing to 
receive company for the summer, and had 
already made arrangements for their recep- 
tion. A few days afterward, however, his 
wife was severely attacked with the pleu- 
risy fever, and had to send to Hingham 
for a physician ; while Mr. Bruce himself 
was visited by his old enemy, the rheuma- 
tism. This domestic trouble defeated all 
his plans, and induced liim to abandon the 
idea of taking boarders the present season. 
Last year his house was thronged with the 
beauty and fashion of the city. 
The Cutter Hamilton. 

Captain Sturgis's cutter Hamilton was 
in the roads, at anchor. She had recently 
been painted, inside and out, and looked 
as comely and inviting as a city belle with 
a delicate touch of rouge. The cutter is a 
janty craft, for the service she is in, and 
has as line a set of olhcers, and as clever a 
crew, as ever doubled Cape Cod. The 
short extract which follows speaks volumes 
Captain Sturgis had gone to the city, to 
dine with the Ancient and Honorable Ar- 
tillery Company, and to make a speech in 
commendation of the successes of our 
gallant army in Mexico. He always has 
to speak on such occasions. The Boston 
Post, of the 13th of this month, speaking 
of the progress of the cutter boys, says : — 
"The present calling of eighteen of the 
young men who have served on board of 
the revenue-cutter Hamilton, under Capt. 
Sturgis, since 1840, are as follows : five 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



19 



LETTER III. 

The ministers of Hull from its first settlement — 
protection to fisJiennen by the colonial legis- 
lative assembly — names of some of the early 
settlers — condition of the town during the revo- 
lutionary war — destruction of the meeting-house 
by the September gale of 1815 — slate (f political 
parties — the richest widow in Hull — Steamer 
Britannia passing tip light-house channel at day 
break — wreck of a French 74 — miliiuri/ spirit 
in Hull — origiti of the Ancient and Honor- 
able Artillkry Company. 

Hull, July, 1845. 
In looking over a long account of the 
early settlement of Nantasket, or Hull, in 
the Hingham Gazette of October 15, 1830, 
from the pen of Solomon Lincolon, Esq. — 
a gentleman celebrated for his antiquarian 
researches — and some other works on the 
subject, I find that a church was formed 

captains of merchantmen, four chief mates, 
two second mates, one warranted sailma- 
ker in the navy, one temperance hotel 
keeper, one large eating-house keeper, one 
superintendent of a factory, one instructer 
of a normal school, one on the U. S. coast 
survey, and one lieutenant in the regular 
army." 

New Quarantine. 
About two years ago, on account of the 
prevalence of the ship fever, the quaran- 
tine and hospital were removed from Rains- 
ford Island to Deer Island, and the city 
authorities let the former to Capt. Bruce, 
for a trifling consideration, as a place of 
public entertainment. The captain has the 
reputation of having done pretty well there 
for two years past. We copy from the 
Evening Traveller the anne.ved remarks 
relating to the new establishment : — " The 
committee of the Aldermen and Common 
Council on the Hospital at Deer Island, 
paid a visit to that place on Wednesday, it 
being the anniversary of the Hospital there. 
Ttiey found the different wards in good 
order, the ventilation of the apartments all 
that could be desired, and the patients in 
general doing well. Dr. Moriarty, the etii- 
cient superintendent and physician, de- 
votes himself to the duties of his station 
with much assiduit}', and much to the satis- 
faction of his numerous patients." The 
Traveller might have added — "'some of 
whom live and some of whom die !" 



here as early as July, 1644. About the 
same time, according to Winthrop, "Na- 
tascot," (the name by which it then went) 
"being formally made a town, and having 
twenty houses and a minister, was, by the 
general court, named Hull," — in honor, as 
is supposed, of one Joseph Hull, of Hing- 
ham.. Marmaduke Matthews is said to 
have been the name of this minister. He 
was afterwards called to the church at 
Maiden. It should be remarked, that, 
according to the best historians, Hull was 
settled as early as 1624-'25, by a seditious 
or disaffected company from Plymouth, 
who came over in the Mayflower, and left 
their associates in a passion. 
Ministers of Hull. 
Rev. Zechariah Whitman, a graduate of 
Harvard University, was the first regularly 
ordained minister at Hull, in 1670. His 
salary was forty pounds. He oflliciated 
until near the time of his death, which took 
place in 1726 — a period of 56 years. He 
appears to have secured the affections of 
his people, for the town voted, after his 
decease, to pay his children for his main- 
tenance "while he lived and did not 
preach." 

In November, 1725, about a year pre- 
vious to the death of Mr. Whitman, who 
had been a long time sick. Rev. Ezra 
Carpenter was ordained in the ministry 
at Hull, smA fifteen poumds were appropriated 
to defray the expenses of the ordination. 
This is probably almost as great an amount 
of money as has been paid for preaching 
at Hull, during the last two years. Mr. 
Carpenter continued to watch over the 
souls of his congregation until 1746, from 
which time until the year 1753, a period 
of seven years, the town does not appear 
to have had any settled minister, although 
invitations were extended to Mr. Elisha 
Eaton, Mr. Samuel Hill, and others, grad- 
uates of Harvard, to settle there. Mr. 
Carpenter removed to New- Hampshire, 
where he preached — at Swansey and 
Keene, on alternate Sundays — and, after 
many years of hard labor in the cause of 
religion, he calmly resigned his life to the 



20 



NOTKS OX THK SKA-SilORK ; 



hands of God who gave it, in the full faith 
of a blessed immortality. He has left 
many descendants. In January, 1753 
Rev. Samuel Veazie, of Duxbury, accep- 
ted an invitation to settle at Hull, and he 
was ordained in April of that year. Twelve 
years afterwards, 17G5, didiculties arose 
respecting? his salary, and he was obliged 
to sue the town for it. The matter was 
compromised, and in 1077 he was dismissed 
by an ecclesiastical council. Rev. Solo- 
mon Prentice succeeded him. and was 
employed until the fall of 1772. In 1773, 
Rev. Eikanah Winchester was invited to 
preach for a few months. It is supposed 
that no regularly ordained minister was 
supported by the town after Mr. Veazie 
was discharged, as^ the inhabitants had, at 
that early day, began to entertain different 
religious opinions ; in addition to which, 
they suffered much by the war of the rev- 
olution. 

All the ministers who were settled at 
Hull, from 1670, to 1773, a period of over 
one hundred years, were graduates of 
Harvard University. 

In 1774, the town authorised the select- 
men " to provide a preacher for the term 
of six months, with the qualiiication, that 
none of the Baptist persuasion be debarred 
the pulpit because of his being of that 
denomination, but on the other hand rather 
to be preferred on that very account." At 
the same meeting, an arrangement was 
made to accommodate such of the inhabi- 
tants as were favorable to a congregational 
preacher only. 

Dreadful Hurricanes. 
In 1734, the inhabitants erected a meet- 
ing house in the " middle of the village, 
near a piece of water" — a small pond. 
This " piece of water" is in its pristine 
beauty, and daily visited by dogs, horses, 
and COWS; for the purpose of bathing and 



drinking 



but the meeting house was 



blown dovv-n in the great gale of September 
1815 — a gale almost unprecedented for its 
violence in the annals of New England. 
I shall never forget that gale, nor its gene- 
rally disastrous effects, in Boston harbor 



and along our whole coast. The account 
of its destructive course in Providence 
river, and elsewhere, when we read of it at 
this distant day, appears more like romance 
than reality. That gale was indeed terri- 
ble. The hurricanes which took place 
in December 1839, have also been spoken 
of as being among the most severe that 
ever occurred on this coast. 

The meeting house was not rebuilt at 
Hull ; and the ordy place of worship in 
the village, at present, is a small eighteen 
foot building, standing on the margin of the 
aforesaid " piece of water," and nearly 
opposite the site of the old one. There is, 
also, a small building at the S. end of the 
beach, near VVorrick's, which is sometimes 
used for religious worship, by a small 
congregation of Methodists. 

Protection to Fishermen. 

As early as the 26th of May, 1647, the 
General Court passed a law for the encour- 
agement and protection of fishermen in 
the town of Hull — so that, in the words of 
the order, " such fishermen as are already 
there, and others which shall come thither, 
may have all such reasonable privileges 
and encouragement as the place will 
afford." To this very day, the spirit and 
letter of this order are preserved. Every 
facility is given to fishermen who visit 
Hull, whether they are mere amateurs from 
the city, who come to spend a day, or men 
who follow the business of fishing for a 
livelihood. 

Hall in Ancient Times. 

" Among the early settlers in Hull, who 
received grants of land from the General 
Court previous to 1640," (says Mr. Lincoln 
in his elaborate account) "were Messrs. 
Stone, Jones, Benson, Chamberlyn, Bos- 
worth, Stubbes. Baker, Collier, Loring, 
Chaffee, Bunne, (supposed Binney) Wanl, 
Prince, and Vickere. The names of Phip- 
penny, Goold, Binney, Soper, Nightingale, 
Street, Green, Lobdell, Barllett, Rider, 
Dilley, (Dill) Di.xon, Whitman, Snow and 
Milton afterwards appear in the records, 
and most of them before the year 1700. 
I All these names are now extinct in Nan- 



on RANDOM SKETCHES. 



21 



taskef, excepting those of Jones, Binney, 
Loving, Gould and Dill.'' 

The olde.st man in Hull is Mr. Samuel 
Reed.* He tells me he is eighty years of 
age. He is a smart man, and works in the 
fields daily. The oldest woman is Mrs. 
Dill, who is rising eighty. 

A public school is supported by the town 
six months of every year, the teacher gen- 
erally being a female, of moderate intel- 
lectual capacity and of modest pretensions 
— and she receives a small salary. She 
has forty scholars, embracing the flower 
of the youth of the town — the sons and 
daughters of hardy fishermen. 
Decline of Ilidl. 

Hull suffered much duiing the revolu- 
tionary war, at the commencement of which 
there were as many as twenty fishing ves- 
sels owned there. The inhabitants were 
then engaged chiefly in ship-building and 
the fisheries ; but they were patriotic, ap- 
proved of the war, and gave it a zealous 
support: some of them served in the con- 
tinental army. Their means of living 

A Smart Old Man. 
(*NoTE— June. 1848.) We saw this old 
man planting potatoes a few days ago, 
and had some agreeable conversation w^ith 
him. He was bright as a new dollar. 
Having heard that Hull had changed her 
political character, we said to him — "friend 
Eeed, I suppose you voted the whig ticket 
at the last election '^"' He looked up for 
about a minule, and then commenced 
planting a;^ain. We repeated the question, 
as well as the old maxim — '' as goes Hull, 
so goes the state." He again looked up, 
and, after a short pause, replied — " I am 
dreadfully hard of hearing; most men are 
so at my age !'' This was a capital answer 
to our question, and it made us laugh 
heartily, for, at our previous conversations, 
in 1845, he was decidedly democratic — 
and even at this interview, he understood, 
quickly and distinctly, every question we 
put to him except the one named. We 
shall always respect the old man for his 
shrewdness. It is related of him that, 
during the revolutionary war, he made 
powder for the American army : in drying 
a quantity of it one day by his kitchen fire 
a spark tlew into it, and blew the house 
up, frightening the manufacturer most aw- 
fully, fie then lived in Weymouth. 



having been entirely broken up by the 
war, their trade and commerce prostrated, 
they were compelled, in 1776-77, to peti- 
tion the General Court for assistance. 
Their distress and sufl'ering, at this time, 
must have been great. The decline of the 
town commenced about 1775, at which 
time there were fifty houses in Hull : now, 
there are about half that number. There 
are ten or twelve schooners owned here, 
besides several pink-stern boats, and they 
are employed in the lumbering, lightering 
and fishing business. 

Thomas Jones, Esq. represented the 
town in the convention which approved the 
Constitution of the United States, in 1788. 
He died a year or two since, leavinsa pro- 
perty estimated at over one hundred thou- 
sand dollars. He left a widow and two 
daughters, who are now single. 

The steamer Britannia, from Liverpool, 
passed up Light House channel this morn- 
ing, at 5 o'clock, and made a beautiful 
appearance from the fort. As she was 
passing through the Narrows an old man 
remarked to me — " there, she is now oppo- 
site the wreck of the French 74, which 
was cast away and sunk during the revo- 
lutionary war. I remember it well." The 
place where this ship was wrecked is now 
called 74-bar.* 

I find that there is something of a mili- 
tary spirit in Hull. Some of its early set- 
tlers were among the original founders of 
the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- 
pany. 

(*NoTE — June, 1848.) A few weeks 
since Capt. Solomon Dill and his crew, 
while at anchor in Hull Bay, off Petlick's 
Island, grappled an anchor of immense 
size, and, alter several ineflectual attempts, 
finally succeeded in raising it. It weighed 
about 8000 pounds — the shank was nine- 
teen feet long, and the ring about eighteen 
in diameter. It was carried to Boston and 
sold to Mr. Alger for 150 dollars. This 
belonged to a French 74, which was at 
ar.chor in Hull bay in the revolutionary 
war. Mrs. Reed, one of the oldest ladies 
in Hull, remembers the fact distinctly, and 
slates that she went on board the ship sev- 
eral times, by invitation of the commodore. 
She was then in her prime. 



22 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIOUE ; 



LETTER IV. 

The town of Hull, again — its situation, ^fields, 
vegetation, fruit trees, roads, population, and its 
jnihlic school — employment of its f males, and the 
severeireatmentthcy receive from tico or three con- 
tractors connected uilh large tailoring establish- 
ments — the cause of temperance — anecdote of 
Mr. Mitchell, the suspected smuggler, and John 
Minot, the vigilant ex-custom house officer — sketch 
of Mitchell's life — one of Father Bates's temper- 
ance anecdotes. 

Hull, Julv, 1815. 
The location of the village of Hull is a 
highly favorable one for the purposes of 
agriculture. The houses and gardens all 
lie between two prominent hills, of great 
length, running from S. to VV. ; they are 
conseqenily shielded from the searching 
N. and NE. winds. These hills are com- 
posed of rich pasture lands, of M'ell culti- 
vated and productive fields, fruit trees, &c. 
The soil is said to be equal to any in New 
England. This is probably true, as every 
thing appears to have a rank and vigorous 
growth. There is a large number of win- 
ter pear trees in full bearing, some of which 
are one hundred and fifty years old : the 
last year's crop of this fruit brought 300 
dollars. Next to fishing, the chief employ- 
ment of the inhabitants is agriculture. The 
hills are covered with flocks of sheep, and 
the pastures give sustenance and comfort 
to numerous cows, horses and o.xen. Hull 
will often remind one of a thriving agricul- 
tural town in the interior. I would here 
remark, that the residents sell their barn 
manure to farmers in Dorchester and Rox- 
bury, and spread upon their own lands 
kelp and rockweed, which are found in 
abundance all along the shore. The tem- 
perature of the weather at Hull is, gener- 
ally, several degrees colder than that at 
Boston, except in the winter, when it is 
comparatively milder. The roads are good 
and the water excellent. 

Population of Hull. 
The population of Hull in ISIO was 1.32; 
in 1820, 172; 1830,198; 1840,230; at 



this time it is supposed to be about 270. 
These statistics show that there has been 
a gradual increase in the population since 
the commencement of the present century ; 
but the number of inhabitants now is pro- 
bably not more than it was in 177-5, when 
there were fifty houses in Hull, each house 
doubtless containing five or six souls. The 
town has the honor of having given birth 
— or, to speak more correctly, one of its 
women claimed that honor — to one gradu- 
ate of Harvard Univerisity — the Rev. Israel 
Loring, who died in 1772, at Sudbury, 
(where he was settled 6(i years) at the ad- 
vanced age of 90. 

Employment of Females. 
The females of Hull are mostly employ- 
ed in sewing. Having no Broadway or 
Washington-street, no Battery or Common 
to walk in, they seldom make their appear- 
ance in public. They are expert with the 
needle, and take in slop-work. Some of 
them have informed me that the work they 
do all goes to Boston. There are three 
men in Hingham, they say, who contract 
to do a large portion of the work of several 
extensive establishments in that city, at 
certain prices for cash. These men dis- 
tribute the work among the poor females 
of Hingham, Hull and Cohasset, and pay 
in goods ! — for making drawers 6 cents, 
overalls 8, shirts 8, thin pantaloons 10, thick 
woollen ditto 20, 25, and sometimes 30 — 
the contractors, who are doubtless well 
paid by their Boston employers, always 
making the prices. This is enough lo 
make the blood of an honest, humane fel- 
low run cold. In the language of the great 
poet of nature — Are there not some hidden 
curses in the stores of Heaven, red with 
uncommon wrath, to blast these men, who 
owe their greatness to the unpaid labor, the 
mental and bodily suffering, ol destitute, 
dependent females'? 

Temperance in Hull. 
The temperance cause was early agita- 
ted in Hull, from which fact I infer that 
some of the first settlers, their children, or 
their gra!idchilih(>n, were addicted to .sip- 



OK KANDOM SKETCHES. 



23 



ping ^'bimboi''' and other strong drinks from 
tin cups. In 1721, one hundred and 
twenty-five years ago, the town voted that 
no tavern or public house should be kept 
within its limits. And from that day to 
this, intoxicating drinks have rarely been 
sold in the town of Hull. At the other end 
of the beach, perhaps, a different story 
might have been told when you and I were 
young — " long time ago." When the fish- 
ermen of Hull, or any of its inhabitants 
or transient visiters, want a " drop of com- 
fort," they have to go or send to Boston for 
it. New England rum is the favorite bev- 
erage of most of the consumers, who take 
it in the pure, natural state, as many of 
of our farmers in the interior do while mak- 
ing hay,* 

{*NoTE— June, 1848.)— The cause of 
temperance has made considerable pro- 
gress at Hull within a few years For- 
merly, many fishing vessels that were fitted 
out, carried a generous stock of pure New 
England among their small stores : now, 
the fishermen go to sea without any excit- 
ing beverage, except occasionally a little 
in their medicine chests. This is the 
most approved method of doing it ; and it 
is excusable — as others, standing in more 
elevated positions in society, do the same 
thing. At a temperance gathering a short 
time since several persons signed the 
pledge, after a very agreeable anecdote 
from i^'ather Bates. It ran thus. There 
Was a man in Hingham by the name of 
S , who had successfully followed fish- 
ing for almost half a century. He was 
generally a pretty temperate man, but 
would now and then descend from the dig- 
nity of a true fisherman to wallow in the 
mire of drunkenness. One afternoon, re- 
turning home full of liquor, he fell into a 
frog-pond, where the water was about a 
foot and a half deep. Unable to extricate 
himself from this disagreeable fix, and 
swallowing dirty water freely, he bellowed 
most piteously. Two of his neighbours 
went to his assistance, and, with some dif- 
ficulty, rescued him from a watery grave. 
When found, he had almost " given up the 
ghost," and was muttering to iiimself — 
" This is too bad — by a jug-full V^ (Hie !) 
" Forty years to the Grand Bank, and to 
be drowned in such an infernal hole as this 
at last. Oh !" He was about to turn over 
and die, when his neighbours seized him 
by the throat. Mr. S. thinking he was in 



Anecdote of Mitchdl. 

In a previous letter I spoke of Mr. Mitch- 
ell, the wrecker, who has sometimes been 
considered a little crafty, and has therefore 
been watched pretty closely by the officers 
of the customs in Boston. I have a chat 
with him very often. He is somewhat un- 
popular in Hull, and isduly sensible of the 
fact. It is sometimes jokingly said, that 
" he never exposes himself to the night 
air!" But, with all his alleged faults, I 
consider him one of the most enterprising 
men in this town. He is a stanch Whig. 
A few days since he related to me the fol- 
lowing rich anecdote. INIinot, the inspec- 
tor, (said he) was always dogging me, and 
always suspected me of smuggling. One 
day I thought I would be up with him ; so 
I went to the beach and filled four coffee 
bags with gravel and sand, and off I started 
for Boston. Arrivin^r off the end of Lone- 
wharf, who should I see, the first man, but 
Minot. " Ah, ha, Mitchell!" he exclaim- 
ed, " I have got you now." Well, I moved 
on, tied my boat to the wharf, and began 
to make a fuss about the matter. This 
sharpened Minot's appetite, and he would 
not listen to a word I had to say, but or- 
dered a couple of lumpers to take the bags 
ashore. I said nothing more; but, by and 
by, Minot cut open one of the bags, and, 
to his surprise, discovered nothing but sand 
and gravel fresh from the beach at Hull. 
I cut and run, instanter. Mitchell tells 
this story with a good deal of gusto. It is 
a capital joke, and all who are acquainted 
with the zeal and fidelity of our friend Mi- 
not will relish it much. 

II^^A brief notice of the life of Mitchell, 
intended to follow this anecdote, will be 
found in the Appendix. ■ On some future 
occasion the writer will endeavor to do that 
gentleman justice. 

the hands of the devil, showed fight, but 
he was soon undeceived. A useful moral 
lesson may be drawn from this little story. 
The turn Father Bates gave it, after throw- 
ing away a generous quid of tobacco, was, 
to touch not, taste noi the poisonous liquid, 
but go the whole figure on total abstinence, 
and stick to that as the only safety. 



24 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIORE ; 



LETTER V. 

The Massachusetts ITitntane Society, and its im- 
portance to One huvtan race. 

Hull, August, 1845. 

A BKiEF account of this excellent society, 
"which I referred to in my last letter, would 
not probably be uninteresting to your read- 
ers. A pamphlet of one hundred octavo 
pages, on this subject, has been recently 
published. I have examined it with some 
attention, and, I will add, with much gra- 
tification. 

It appears that the society was instituted 
in 1786, in imitation of two kindred socie- 
ties, — one existing in England, the other 
in Holland, — and the object of its founders 
was to give encouragement to those who 
succeeded in "restoring life to persons ap- 
par(intly dead." Gov. James Bowdoin was 
its first president. For a long series of 
years, the most respectable and influential 
men in the state were enrolled among its 
members. In 1810, it had over six hun- 
dred: at the present time the number is 
very small, and there is not, in my humble 
opinion, that interest taken in its welfare 
which, on account of its usefulness, it so 
eminently deserves. 

In looking over a list of the benefactors 
of the society, I lio not find that a single 
donation has been made to its funds since 
1831, when the venerable Isaiah Thomas, 
of Worcester, the father of New England 
printers, gave it 300 dollars. The last pre- 
vious donation, 5000 dollars, was a legacy 
from Mr. A. Trouro — a Jew, I believe ; but 
whether Jew or not, it was a Christian act. 
And whether its funds are ample or not, 
for all its benevolent purposes, is not sta- 
ted. Since the organization of the society, 
"many hundreds" of premiums have been 
dispensed; this fact alone speaks volumes 
in favor of its importance — because it fol- 
lows, that many hundreds of human lives 
have been saved. 

The annexed extract will show what the 
people of old Massachusetts thought of the 
Humane Society half a century ago. The 
reminiscence is interesting : — 



" The most distinguished professional 
gentlemen, lay as well as clerical, were 
selected for its orators ; liberal contribu- 
tions to its funds showed the sense enter- 
tained of the importance of its design; 
while its anniversaries, in the pleasant 
month of June, which tiie Executive, with 
the legislature of the slate, then in session, 
repeatedly adjourned to attend, were hon- 
ored by crowded assemblies, and attended 
by somewhat of the ' pomp and circum- 
stance' belonging to those days, but which, 
with familiarity and changes in the habits 
of society, have now passed away." 

Among the earliest duties of the society 
was one to establish Humane Houses, or 
huts for the shelter of shipwrecked mari- 
ners ; but these, then — as at the present 
day — were often plundered, disfigured, or 
had their materials destroyed. This might 
bo termed double-distilled rascality. The 
society has now several of these houses, 
and about twenty life-boats, in different ex- 
posed and dangerous situations on the 
South and North shores. One of the boats 
at Hull has been the means of saving forty 
or fifty lives, from seven different vessels. 
The society has recently presented Moses 
B. Tower, of this place, with a gold medal, 
for his exertions in saving the crew of the 
brig Tremont. It may be added, in this 
connection, that the Humane Society was 
mainly instrumental in establishing the 
Boston Infirmary, the Lying-in Hospital, 
and the Asylum for the Insane. 

The list of premiums in the pamphlet 
before me occupies thirty pages ; and 
those published comprise, it is stated, only 
about one quarter part of the whole number 
awarded. I perceive that Mr. Lawrence 
Nichols, of Boston, received a gold medal 
for extraordinary exertions in saving the 
lives of two men. near Boston Light, in 
1815. Mr. William Tewksbury, of Deer 
Island, has been several times rewarded, 
for very extraordinary exertions in saving 
the lives of his fellow men. His wife and 
some of his sons have also received premi- 
ums for their successful labors in the good 
cause. In 1817, Lieut. Salter, Midship- 
men Howell and Dodds, and Boatswain 
McCloud, of the U, S. ship Independence, 
received medals for saving the lives of two 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES- 



25 



women and one man in Boston harbor, un- 
der remarkable circumstances. In 1818, 
Mr. Wyman, of Utica, N. Y. was presented 
with a medal, for saving the life of our 
friend J. P. Bigelow, while in imminent 
danger of drowning in the Middlesex canal. 
In 1820, the society gave Mr. Edmund R. 
Smith and others forty-five dollars for sav- 
ing seven men from drowning at S. Boston. 
In 1822, Capt. Nickerson, of Dennis, was 
presented with twenty-five dollars, for sav- 
ing the lives of Mr. Samuel Topliff and 
Solomon G. Low — the former of the news 
room, the latter printer of the Daily Ad- 
vertiser. In 1824, Mr. Thomas Ward was 
presented with twenty dollars, for great 
judgment and presence of mind in saving 
eleven men upset in Boston harbor. Mr. 
Abraham Rich was presented with a gold 
medal, in 1837, for saving a man and three 
women, who were clinging to a boat upset 
near Deer Island. 

These instances are merely taken at ran- 
dom from a thousand others of a similar 
character. Indeed, I am surprised at the 
extent of the business that has been done 
in saving human life, on the New England 
<;oast, within the last fifty years, as every 
one must be who reads the History of the 
Humane Society of Massachusetts.* 

I cannot close this notice without stating 
that Mr. James Beers, in 1832, received a 
certificate of thanks, and a present of one 
hundred dollars, for his "singular skill, 
courage and benevolence, by which, with 
the blessing of Divine Providence, fifteen 
persons were rescued from imminent dan- 
ger, in a night of extreme severity, and 
when their condition seemed hopeless." 

* The following is the title page of a little 
pamphlet publislied in P»oston, in 1840 : — "Aw- 
ful calamities, or the shipwrecks of December, 
1839; being a full account of the dreadful hur- 
ricanes of December 15, 21 and 27, on the coast 
of Massachusetts, in which were lost more than 
90 vessels, and nearly 200 dismasted, driven 
ashore, or otherwise damaged, and more than 
150 lives destroyed." 

O;;^ Speaking of mackerel, the Glou- 
cester Telegraph, a few days since, stated 
that the mackerel fishery of New England 
has not for many years been so poor as the 
present year. We are sorry to hear it. 



LETTER VL 

Disastrous effects of tJie sea upon the islands in 
Boston harbor — the Great Brewster, Point Alder- 
ton^ Long Island Head — an appeal to Congress in 
favor of sea-ivalls — the hills and islands in and 
about Hull Bay — boat sailing— prospect from the 
old fort at Hull — pleasure parties— Ware River — 
the berry region in Hingham andCohasset — terrible 
shipivreck of an Eastern packet schooner, with all 
her passengers, on LovelVs Island, some twenty -five 
years ago — Gallop's Island. 

Hull, August, 1845. 

It is painful for a Bostonian to stand on 
the old fort, or on the brow of Point Alder- 
ton — the views from which are very com- 
manding — and to see the manner in which 
the islands in our beautiful harbor are 
crumbling into pieces, and obstructing nav- 
igation, by filling up the main channels to 
the ocean. The Avant of substantial sea- 
walls is almost everywhere observable, 
and, if something be not speedily done, it 
will not be many years before every ves- 
tige of several of the islands is swept away 
by the constant and often terrible washing 
of the sea. 

Why is it that Congress does not do 
something to protect a harbor into whose 
bosom are annually poured millions and 
tens of millions of the riches of every 
clime, giving strength and dignity to the 
general government, and wealth and honor 
to the whole people ? I am surprised at 
their delay ; and I cannot but think that, 
if the subject were properly enforced upon 
the mind of every western and every south- 
ern member of Congress, by an agent com- 
petent to the task — by one having a correct 
knowledge of the matter, and who could 
explain it so that it could be understood ; 
by one acquainted with all the localities, 
and all the islands requiring immediate 
attention ; 1 cannot believe, I say, but 
something liberal would be done, and that 
promptly, too, to put a check to the disas- 
trous inroads of the sea upon the exposed 
islands in Boston harbor. 

The subject is one richly deserving the 
action, not only of the chamber of com- 



26 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIORE ; 



merce, but of the whole body of merchants 
and ship owners and inulrwriters in the 
city of Boston, 

I believe the harbor bill, injudiciously 
vetoed by President Tyler, contained an 
appropriation of $40,000 or $50,000 for the 
purpose of building a sea-wall at Point 
Alderton. From President Polk I confi- 
dently expect a more just and liberal policy. 
He surely cannot doubt, that a revenue 
collecting district which holds the second 
rank in this mighty nation is entitled to 
have its islands protected from total anni- 
hilation, when the expenditure of one or 
two hundred thousand dollars, a mere tythe 
of what she annually pours into the 
national treasury for the support of the 
interests of our common country, will ac- 
complish the object. 

Hull Bay and its vicinity. 

In Hull bay there are several islands, on 
which are produced yearly many tons of 
excellent hay, besides large quantities of 
corn, oats, barley and rye ; and the hills 
on the main land are also productive. 
These prominent and beautiful eminences, 
when our pilgrim fathers landed on these 
shores, and the Indian trod the soil in the 
majesty of his nature and his strength, 
with none to molest or make him afraid, 
were crowned with vigorous oaks. Now, 
we see no sign of the Indian or the oak ; 
both have long since been swept away, by 
the march of civilization and the hand of 
modern improvement, and in the places 
they once occupied we see the tall grass 
waving in luxuriance and the corn ripen- 
ing in the sun. 

" Of the eminences in Nanlaskct." (re- 
marks Mr. Lincoln) " Strawberry Hill lakes 
its name from the abundance of the deli- 
cious berry of that name formerly found 
there. Sagamore Hill was probably the 
residence of some Indian sachem. Point 
Alderton was named for Isaac Alderton, 
the first assistant of Plymouth. Skull 
Head was so named, tradition says, in 
commemoration of a great Indian battle 
fought between the natives of the north 
and south shores; the bones of the killed 
were to be seen there at the settlement of 
the country." 

The sea has made tremendous inroads 



upon Skull Head, several acres of which 
have been washed away within the last 
thirty years. The gravel has disappeared, 
but there are hundreds of large stones and 
rocks on the beach — "the remains of beauty 
once admired" — to remind the inquisitive 
passer-by that such things once were, and 
were probably most dear to the hearts of 
the Indians and the early settlers of this 
country. 

Hull bay is one of the most favorable 
sheets of water for boat-sailing that I have 
ever seen. Surrounded as it is by hills and 
Islands, you are well protected, even in the 
roughest of weather. I have never seen 
the wind too high, nor the waves too heavy, 
for comfort, in the summer season, except 
when a thunder storm prevailed. There 
is a striking contrast between the smooth- 
ness' of the water in this bay and the rough- 
ness of that outside : but it is easily ac- 
counted for. 

]Varc River. 

Numerous parties of gentlemen are in 
the habit of visiting these waters in the 
summer months, from Boston and the towns 
in its vicinity, for the purpose of spending 
a week in fishing, clamming, gunning, etc. 
They bring with them their own provisions, 
cooking utensils, bimbo, (the Indian name 
for strong drink) and ginger pop — pitch 
their tents on the grass near the shore, and 
apparently enjoy solid comfort. Ware 
river is a place of very general resort for 
such parties ; and I can conceive of no 
recreation more delightful, none more in- 
nocent, economical and healthful, than tha^ 
which they enjoy. After exposure to the 
sun, on the water or on the beach, they 
repair to their tents, or seek the shade of 
some comfortable tree, and there they will 
joke, relate anecdotes, laugh, and enjoy 
the simple food they have brought with 
them from their respective homes — with 
the addition, perhaps, of some well cooked 
tomcod, perch, clams and chowder.* What 
could be more rational ? 

* Speaking of sickness produced by eat- 
ing clams, Deacon Doleful of Hull thinks 
that those on the North shore are aifected 
with the ship fever. The idea is original. 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



27 



A sail up Ware river is an excursion 
worth enjoying. I have noticed from my 
window, with the aid of my mast-head spy- 
glass, as»the late Marshal Prince used to 
say when speaking of the sea-serpent, — 
which, by the by, is daily expected at Hull 
to regulate the eel fishery, — that some of 
the crack yachts of the city visit that river 
daily with large parties. The land in the 
vicinity is covered with berry bushes, in 
full bearing, to an extent of many hundreds 
of acres. There is good picking there, de- 
pend upon it.* The Hingham steamer 
takes up to Boston every summer thousands 
of bushels of the product of this great berry 
region, as it is called. The berries are 
picked by children, who barter them for 
family stores, and get but little for them. 
This is another way in which the people 
on the South shore contrive to live. 
Dreadful Shipwreck. 

A story is told in these parts of a distress- 
ing shipwreck which took place on Lov- 
elPs island some twenty-five years ago, 
the thermometer at the time below zero. 
A packet schooner from Maine for Boston, 
struck on Ram's Head at midnight. Her 
passengers, fifteen in number, were safely 
landed on Lovell's island, and they sought 
shelter from a piercing north wind behind 
a rock six or eight feet high, with the loca- 
tion of which every one who has been on 
the island must be acquainted. The next 
morning, Mr. Thomas Spear, of George's 
island, discovered the bodies, all huddled 

(*NoTE — J0LT, 1848.) We remember that 
one of the pleasantest days we over passed was 
among the berry bushes in this region, tlu-ee or 
four years ago, in the month of August. Tak- 
ing with us our " better-half," and five little " re- 
sponsibilities," together with a basket of refresh- 
ments, we left Boston in the Hingham steamer 
in the morning, and in an hour and a half after- 
wards our whole party were engaged in picking 
berries. In an hour or two each young laborer 
brought in his contribution to the general stock, 
and we found that they had gathered over a peck 
of tine blackberries, and about half a bushel of 
whortleberries — more than enough to furnish us 
with " high feed" until the afternoon, when we 
retiirned home, having enjoyed a rational, eco- 
nomical, agreeable Jomili/ pic-nic. We advise 
others to do the same thing, at least once every 
summer. We found one or two springs of pure 
water in the berry region. 



together, and when he went over to the 
island, there was not the least sign of life 
in any one of them — they were all frozen 
to death. The most romantic part of the 
story is to be told. Two of the passengers, 
a young gentleman and lady, were clasped 
in each other's arms. They were about to 
be married," and were on their way to Bos- 
ton to purchase furniture for house-keeping. 
Gallop's, or Newcomb's island, is near 
the place I have spoken of — the entrance 
of the Narrows. It is a beautiful spot in 
the summer season, and one which might 
be advantageously improved as a place of 
public resort. I have understood that an 
agent of the general government has offered 
the owner of this island SI 0,000 for it — his 
price is .$12,000. The ballast sold every 
year amounts to about §300, and there are 
probably a hundred tons of the island 
washed away annually to fill up the chan- 
nels in the neighborhood. Mrs. Newcomb 
often has boarders at her house during the 
summer, and it is said to be an excellent 
retreat for invalids afiiicted with mental or 
physical infirmities. An extensive hotel 
there would pay well. The trees are nu- 
merous, of vigorous growth, and vegetation 
thrives well. The old lady is glad to see 
her friends, at all times ; and she takes 
much delight in accommodating them. 



LETTER VII. 

Public and private houses in NantasJcet, their 
situation and conveniences — reflections touching the 
enjoyment of life and the sea breeze, on the sea- 
shore — mosquitoes— disagreeable lodgings and poor 
fare, at some of the boarding-houses— the fishing 
philosopher at Cohasset— poetry — Mr. Webster's 
country seat, and choiuders, at 3Iarshfleld—prop 
shaking near Worrick's twenty years ago, on Sun- 
day, and the remarkable discovery of the party — 
telegraphic establishment at Hull, and that at Bos- 
ton—Mr. Pope and Capt. Brown — the channels in 
Boston harbor — Dearborn's Chart of the islands 
and bay. 

Hull, August, 1845. 

The public and private houses at Nan- 
tasket, and all along shore, are overrun with 



28 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIORE ; 



company, chiefly from Boston. Indeed, ! selves, although the ocean lies before them 

tnere appears to be quite a rush for the sea- and, within half a mile of their houses, the 

shore tins summer, as well on the north as water swarms with all kinds of the finny 

the south side of it : but there are some tribe : and they are loo mean to hire men 

houses on the sea-shore," where the wea- to catch fish for them regularly. They too 

tier IS as warm as it is in Boston. They j often depend upon the efforts of their male 

are supposed to be on the sea-shore, and | boarders for a supply; and when these 

yet they are a considerable distance from it. ; gentlemen feel lazy, also, the whole affair 

And some of our fashionable people, as the lis a dead failure-there are no fish to be 
rich are vulgarly called, will leave their 

airy, cool, well-appointed establishments 

in Boston, with every luxury the market 

affords, in the vain hope of finding comfort 

in such houses as those 1 speak of. They 

will leave their city palaces, their large and 

convenient rooms, comfortable bedsteads 

and mattresses, and all the delicacies of 

the season, and submit to being stowed 

away on straw beds or cots, even upon the 



floor, half a dozen in a small chamber, or 
four deep in an entry, and be half starved 
to death into the bargain, upon badly cook- 
ed fish and other equally cheap comrnodi- 
ties, for the mere sake of being able to 
think that they are enjoying the "sea 
breeze !" 

At this season of the year the wind blows 
from the E. and NE. but a small portion of 
the time, and it is only when the wind is 



J seen. These remarks apply to only a por- 
tion of the boarding houses on the shore — 
, the others are admirably conducted. But 
"evil be to him who evil thinks" — or, as 
the clown translated the French of that 
maxim, '•' Honey, suet, quills, malt, and 
pease !" 

Mosfftitoes. 
There is another trouble which it requires 
some ingenuity to correct ; and, as a ma- 
chine has been invented for extracting the 
bones from a cooked shad, I shall not des- 
pair of seeing some Yankee invent one that 
will extract the teeth of mosquitoes, and 
make them " gentle as a sucking dove." I 
dislike to see my fair countrywomen eaten 
up by these mischievous, prying, offensive 
insects, while enjoying the sea breeze. To 
see the white neck and the fair face of a 
pretty girl taken rank hold of by them, is 



from these quarters that a majority of the | enough to make a young fellow jealous, if 
visiters, at Cohasset for instance, can enjoy J not positively mad : old as I am, the flame 
the sea breeze. Why, my dear colonel, I , of indignation mantles on my cheek at the 
have seen in the entry of a small house on I very thought ! 



this shore five young ladies and a matron 
stowed away in an entry, on cot bedsteads, 
enjoying this kind of sea breeze — their del- 
icate fiands and faces horribly disfigured 
by mosquito bites, and the scratching inci- 
dent thereto. And this is life on the sea- 
shore ! 

But more than this. When breakfast or 
dinner came, the table, instead of being 
handsomely furnished with two or three 



But the requisitions of fashion are so ar- 
bitrary, that every one must yield to them. 
I do not complain of any one : I only mean 
to say that there is a choice of situations. 
The Fishing Philosopher. 
The fishing philosopher is at his old 
quarters, on the lower or Jerusalem road. 
Every morning before sunrise you will find 
him in his boat, half a mile from the shore, 
rappling with sturdy cod and haddock, or 



kinds of well-cooked fish, had but little on j quietly pulling in an inoflensive mackerel, 
it— the boarders were fobbed off with a He is an experienced, skilful fisherman, 
salt mackerel, and a few perch, done as I and takes much delight in tickling the 
dry as an ancient Digby herring. I have j gums of the monarchs of the deep with his 
often seen such things. ingeniously ganged hooks. He probably 

The fact is, some of the men who keep I makes more than his expenses every year, 
houses of this kind are too lazy to fish them- j by his constant labors at the line; the plea- 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



29 



sureof fishing, of course, costs him nothing. 
The exercise he receives is a healthy one, 
and well calculated to prolong his days, 
if a shark does not visit him unceremoni- 
ously some morning before breakfast, jirk 
him out of his dory, and make a flesh chow- 
der of him. Stranger ihings have hap- 
pened; but we desire not to alarm him. 
Like a delicate old maid in the street after 
•dark, our friend always has a pair of sharp 
scissors with him to scare away these vo- 
racious monsters. Sometimes he has only 
to shake his straw hat at them and they are 
otT. He is as brown as a berry — a picture 
of perfect health. In fact, I know of no 
man in the whole scope of my acquain- 
tance, who appears to enjoy life so ration- 
ally as he. With a moderate competence, 
he leaves the bustle of the city five or six 
months of every year, and repairs to the 
coast; and, on its very borders, enjoys the 
manly and healthful exercise of fishing, 
wholly regardless of what is going on in 
the political world, and totally indifferent 
to the squabbles of his fellow citizens about 
pure fresh water, so long as he can enjoy 
his favorite sport upon thai which is equally 
pure, but not quite so fresh. If he is not a 
philosopher, show me who is one. There 
is not one man in a thousand who has the 
good sense to know when he has money 
enough, or who can enjoy it when he has 
earned it, or plundered it from the pockets 
of others. 

]VorricJc. 

I ought to remark here, that Worrick is 
in excellent health, and doing well. He 
whistles as merrily, and listens to well 
related anecdotes with as much attention 
as he did twenty years ago. I always 
liked Worrick, because he has a knack of 
putting a generous quantity of fat pork into 
his chowders. He once excelled all other 
men on the south shore in that respect. 
Mr. Webster^ s Farm. 

Mr. Webster's house, at Marshfield, has 
undergone quite a renovation since I saw 
it last. It is much improved in appearance 
and continues to be the abode of generous 
and elegant hospitality. The distinguished 



senator has recently given two or three ex- 
cellent dinners to some of his friends and 
neighbors, who speak in high terms of his 
chowders. No doubt they are first rate. I 
do not think, however, that port wine, or 
any other wine, improves a fish or a clam 
chowder. To a pure taste the flavor of the 
fish alone, -and of the common and neces- 
sary ingredients, is sufficient, without the 
"aid of foreign ornament" But it is a 
very difficult thing to make a chowder that 
will please every body. I might add, that 
it is quite as difficult to find a family cook 
in Boston who understands the art of mak- 
ing chowder at all ; and I can truly say, 
that some of the very worst chowders I 
ever tasted were made by professional or 
educated cooks, at our public hotels, who 
seem to take Noah Webster's (not Daniel's) 
definition as their guide — '■ a mixture, of 
which fish and crackers are the principal 
ingredients." 

In my next, 1 will give you my own 
ideas about making fish and clam chow- 
ders, and of cooking some other kinds of 
fish, eels especially. 

Prop Shakhuj at Hull. 

But before I close this letter, permit me 
to tell you a brief story in relation to what 
occurred near Worrick's hotel, on a Sun- 
day, some twenty years ago. It was then 
fashionable for several of our bank and in- 
surance clerks to leave the city on Satur- 
day afternoons, and, after spending their 
Sundays agreeably at Nantasket, return 
home in seasoii for business hours on Mon- 
day. One Sabbath day, about noon, a 
dozen of them were accidentally discover- 
ed, under the brow of a rock, by a president 
of one of the banks, who was in company 
with a respectable lawyer from Dedham, 
playing props. And what a discovery ! 
Such a scattering as there was, such a 
blushing and burning, and such elongated 
visages, it is quite impossible to describe. 
Most of the party are now dead. The bank 
president is alive, but the lawyer died sev- 
eral years since. It was considered at the 
time one of the most unfortunate occurren- 
ces of the season ; and, I may add, the 



30 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SnORE ; 



noise made about it in State-slreet, on 
the following day, by some of "our first 
men," had the desired effect: it put a stop 
to all similar proceedings thereafter. 
The Telegraphic Ealablishments. 

The telegraphic establishment at Hull 
is superintended by Mr. Pope, who appears 
to be a very faithful man in his business. 
He is always " on hand,'"' at the earliest 
dawn, and never quits his high office so 
long as there is any chance of his being' 
useful to the mercantile interest, and that 
of his employers. Capt. Brown, with whom 
he is often in telegraphic communication, 
and has his quarters on Central-wharf, is 
also a very faithful man. Mr. Pope says 
he rarely finds him absent from his post. 
I know him to be vastly more intelligent 
than most of the individuals with whom he 
daily comes in business contact. He has 
a very extensive and most correct know- 
ledge of the islands in Boston harbor. 

And here I must be permitted to say a 
word in commendation of the miniature 
chart published several years since by Mr. 
Nathaniel Dearborn. It appears to have 
been prepared with great care, and is a 
useful little work. Besides giving the 
names of all the islands, and the different 
channels, it points out accurately the pop- 
ular fishing grounds in. the lower harbor. 
I commend it, on this account, to the notice 
of young fishermen, and all others who 
have a taste for fishing and sailing, and 
would avoid shoals and breakers. 



LETTER VIII. 

The way to make fish and clam chowders, arid to 
cook eels — remarks on the decline of tite noble 
science of cooking among the young ladies of the 
present day— a laughable note about chowders 
— remarkable fish stories. 

Hull, August, 1845. 
I proceed to fulfil the promise I made in 
my letter of yesterday ; and the reason I 
meddle with the subject of cooking chow- 
ders is this. Such a thing as a chowder is 



unknown in Ireland — and, as you are well 
aware, nine-tenths of all the "cooks," in 
the private families of Boston, came from 
the Emerald Isle. I have been a house- 
keeper myself about twenty years, and out 
of thirty or forty girls who came to my 
house to undertake the cooking, I never 
had one who could make a chowder 
Fish Chowders. 
A Fish Chowder is a simple thing to 
make. For a family of twelve or fifteen 
persons, all you have to do is this : In the 
first place, catch your fish — as Mrs. Glass 
would say — either with a silver or some 
other kind of a hook; a codfish, not a 
haddock, weighing ten or twelve pounds. 
There is more nutriment in the former than 
in the latter. Have it well cleaned by 
your fish-monger, (keeping the skin on)] 
and cut into slices of an inch and a halff 
in thickness — preserving the head, whicl: 
is the best part of it for a chowder. Take 
a pound and a half of clear or fat pork, 
and cut that into thin slices ;. do the same 
with ten or twelve middling-sized potatoes'. 
Then make your chowder, thus : — Take 
the largest pot you have in the house, if it 
be not " as large as all out-doors ; " try out 
the pork first, and then take it out of the 
pot, leaving in the drippings. Put three 
pints of water with the drippings ; then ■ a 
layer of fish, so as to cover as much of the 
surface of the pot as possible; next, a lay- 
er of potatoes ; then put in two table- 
spoonsful of salt, and a tea-spoonful of 
pepper ; then, again, the pork, another lay- 
er of fish, what potatoes may be left, and 
fill the pot up with water, so as to com- 
pletely cover the whole. Pnt the pot over 
a good fire, and let the chowder hoil twenty- 
five minutes. When this is done, put in a 
quart of sweet milk, if you have it handy, 
and ten or a dozen small hard crackers, 
split. Let the whole boil five minOtes 
longer — your chowder is then ready fotthe 
table, and an excellent one it will be. 
Let this direction be strictly followed, and 
every man and every woman can make 
their own chowders. Long experience en- 
ables me to say this, without pretending to 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



31 



be a " cook's oracle." There is no mistake ! 
about it. An onion or two may be used, 
where people have a taste for that unsavory 
vegetable ; but our New England ladies, 
those of Connecticut perhaps excepted, 
although extravagantly fond of onions, do 
not like to have their male friends approach 
them too closely when they have been 
partaking of the "unclean root" and their 
breaths are impregnated with its flavor.* 
Clam Chowders. 
With regard to clam chowders, the pro- 
cess is very different, but very simple. 
Procure a bucket of clams and have them 
opened : then have the skin taken from 
them, the black part of their heads cut off, 
and put them into clean water. Next pro- 
ceed to make your chowder. Take half 
a pound of fat pork, cut it into small thin 
pieces, and try it out. Then put into the 
pot (leaving the pork and drippings in) 
about a dozen potatoes, sliced thin, some 
salt and pepper, and add half a gallon of 
water. Let the whole boil twenty minutes, 
and while boiling put in the clams, a pint 
of milk, and a dozen hard crackers, split. 
Then take off your pot, let it stand a few 
minutes, and your chowder is ready to put 
into the tureen. This is the way Mrs. 
Tower makes her excellent chowders. 
Clams should never be boiled in a chowder 
more than five minutes : three is enough, if 
you wish to have them tender. If they 

*A few days since, the very polite and gentle- 
manl}' keeper of one of the hotels on the sea- 
shore, made an ineft\;ctual attempt to give a 
lady boarder some idea about making chowders. 
He remarked that he thought " about a dozen 
India crackers improved a fish chowder." 
" Why ! " exclaimed the lady — " I should think 
they Avould explode." " I mean, madam, he 
replied, with characteristic suavity, "crackers 
made of meal and flour, in equal parts." He 
no doubt meant what is called on the south 
shore Indian crackers, in conti'adistinction to 
thoai made entirely of flour. But, after all, 
there are no settled rules about making chow- 
ders, especially among the cooks at our large 
hotels. Capt. Beal of the Mayflower, and Hon. 
Mr. Webster, are doubtless, two of the best 
chowder makers in this country — that is, they 
are considered the most scientific — because they 
can eat well, as well as cook well. It is a rare 
thing to find two qualities so valuable combined 
in the same person. Far better than all is the 
fact that they can clean their own fish. 



are boiled longer than five minutes they 
become tough and indigestible as a piece 
of India rubber. Let even an Irish lady- 
cook practise upon this direction for mak- 
ing chowders, and our country will be 
safe I In seasoning chowders it is always 
best to err on the safe side — to come "tardy 
off," rather than overdo the matter. Too 
much seasoning is offensive to many peo- 
ple, the ladies especially, 

Eds — the icay to cook them. 

I have a great mind to enlarge upon this 
subject, but will not at this time. I will 
only remark that the eel is a much abused 
and a much despL-^ed fish ; and yet, when 
properly cooked, it is as sweet as any that 
swims. Many, from ignorance, cut eels 
up and put them into the frying-pan with- 
out parboiling them ; of course they are 
rank and disagree with the stomach. They 
should be cut up, and then put into scald- 
ing hot water for five minutes, when the 
water should be poured off, and the eels 
remain at least half an hour — to reflect on 
what the cook intends to do next! They 
are then fit for cooking — the meat is white 
and sweet, and free from that strong rancid 
flavor which is peculiar to them before they 
go through this steaming process. They 
are commonly used as a pan fish ; but they 
make a delicious pie, (with very little but- 
ter) or a good chowder. 

Decline of the science of cooking. 

I hope your readers will not laugh at me 
for discoursing so " learnedly" on the mode 
of cooking fish a||^ clam chowders, and 
eels. The fact is, my dear colonel, forty 
years ago it was customary for the mothers 
of Boston to teach their girls to make 
chowders, to do every kind of cooking, and 
every kind of domestic labor — well know- 
ing how to do those things themselves, for 
they were brought up in " times that tried 
the souls" of women as well as those of 
men ; and you cannot find a " Boston girl," 
and I might add a " country girl," of forty 
years of age, at the present day, who, in 
domestic matters, does not understand 
every rope in the ship. But come down 
one generation — look into the spawn which 



32 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIORE 



is now coming forward, and tell me how 
many of our city '-young ladies" — the 
danghters of our ministers, lawyers, mer- 
chants, traders, mechanics &c., know or 
care anything about cooking, making 
bread and cake, washing and ironing, of 
mending children's clothes, and the thous- 
and other little minutiiP incident to a well 
regulated domestic establishment and its 
accomplished head. I know of some who 
have to " take their turns in the kitchen ;" 
but, for the most part, our young ladies are 
early sent to school to learn the Italian 
and French languages — they have their 
musical instructers — tliey will attempt to 
play on the piano forte, with no skill at 
their fingers' ends, and to sing without any 
natural or acquired voice, and but iittle 
knowledge of the notes; and, generally 
speaking, with an inditlerent " fashionable 
education," they are sent into the world, 
wholly ignorant of dome&tic matters, a prey 
to "help" hardly less ignorant than them- 
selves. And, in after life, if misfortunes 
come upon them, they will begin to see 
how unwisely they were brought up. 

But, upon the subject of cooking I have 
said enough; hereafter, I may serve up a 
dish of lish stories.* 

Remarkable Fish Stories. 

(*NoTES— June, 1848.) The Angler's Guide, 
a very clever work published in New York in- 
1S45, .stiucs, that " the large.st eel taken, on re- 
cord, was cauglit in one of tlic bays in Long 
Island, andweiiihed sixteen and a half pounds. 
They also, in some instances, grow very large 
in fresh water streams, and liave been taken 
from sovcn to ten pounds li^ijnht.'' The eel spo- 
ken of above must liav^ecu a " rou'^er" — a 
young sea-serpent. During lui experience of 
many years. l)oth in the market and out of it, 
on tlie water and elsewhere, we "have never 
seen any thing of the eel kind that weighed 
over six or seven pounds. ]t takes a pretty 
large codfish to weigh si.xteen and a half 
l)ounds-. there is considerable diftercnce, how- 
ever, in tlie solidity and weight of fish; l)ut wc 
doubt tlic story, all together — fresh water eels 
included. 

A pickcnl, weighing fifteen and a half pounds, 
forty-one inches long and eighteen in circum- 
ference, was brouglit to this city in May, 1848, 
from Deerfield, IMass. 

Speaking of fish stories, the annexed items 
are worth remembering: — "One day last week, 
Messrs Davidson and Kussell drewin at a sin- 
gle haul, on Mr. Ilallock's shore, west side of 



New Haven harbor, says the Journal of Com- 
merce, 2,000000 of white fish, as nearly as 
could be esduuited, weighing on an average 
' about .3-4 of a pound each. The total Aveight 
: of die haul therefore was about 1,,'JOO,000 lbs. or 
i 750 tons ! It is the greatest haul of fish ever 
i made in that harl)or, and we suspect it will not 
be easy to match it any where The farmers 
from the neighl)oring country were engaged 
three or four days in carrying "them oft' in im- 
mense cart loads. They sell at 50 to 75 cents 
the 1000." The Evening Post states that the 
seine was drawn in by horses, attached to a 
windlass, and fastened: when the tide receded, 
tlie fish were left high and dry on a sandy 
beach, ready to be carted away. 

Wc have seen about thirty loads of mnnhaden 
drawn in on Nantasket Long Beach at one pull 
of the seine, and sold for manure at one dollar 
per load. These fish are plenty all along the 
New England coast, and wc suppose are what 
the New York editors call white Jish. 

The Centinel, of August 2, 1820, has the fol- 
lowing remarkable fish story : — " On Monday 
four uncommon bass were caught, with the hook, 
from the rocks of Nahant — one of them weigh- 
ing ./f/^^-AtrcH lbs., one forty-six, one thirty-nine, 
and the smallest twenty-two." When taken, 
the sea-serpent was in hot pursuit of them for 
a luncheon. We have seen a liass, in Catherine 
market, New York, which weighod si.\ty-four 
pounds, and the man who had it for sale inform- 
ed us that he, a few years since, cut one up 
that weighed eighty-three pounds. 

And while upon the subject of fish stories, 
we must be permitted to mention a single fact, 
which occurred in our presence a few days since. 
IMr. Harrington, of the new hotel at Hull, was 
fishing for cod and haddock oft' George's Island. 
He pulled tip, within fifteen minutes of each 
other, two mammoth sculpins, which looked 
enough alike to 1)C twins, as aunt Deborah used 
to say. They measured two feet in length, and 
weighed about twelve pounds a piece. As we 
had never read of nor seen such uon-descripts, 
we had the curiosity to examine their bodies af- 
ter death. We found in the pouch of one of 
them, among other things, four large sized crabs, 
and a tape-worm four feet long — its liver was of 
a deep yellow, an inch thick, six inches longand 
four wide — in its jaws were several rows of 
well set teeth, giving the fish great power. In 
the ])oiich of the other, we found two large 
flounders, in a state of partial decom])osition, 
but nothing else remarkable — its liver was more 
healthy dian that of the other, which no doubt 
had been troubled with the " liver complaint" 
for some time, by over-tasking its stomadi — a 
warning this to all bipeds. In all other respects 
the monsters looked alike. The dissection took 
place in the pircsciuc of several old fishermen, 
one of whom pronounced them " bellows fish." 
They had feet extending from the breast, which 
resembled those of a chicken. 

One "item" more and we shall have finished 
our fish stories. One afternoon, a few weeks 
since, an expert gunner, on Long Beach, fired 
into a shoal of porpoises, and killed one of them. 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



83 



It was soon washed ashore — the ball had enter- 
ed its head between the viglit eye and the jaw. 
Mr. Tower canied it home in his wagon — it 
weighed over one hundred and fifty pounds. 
The next morning we had a dish of steaks upon 
the table, cut from the back of this fisli — the 
meat was very tender. Some of the boarders 
thought it was fried liver, and others said it 
tasted like pork. This porpoise yielded three 
and a half gallons of pure oil. At sea, when a 
porpoise is taken, it is a very common thing to 
cut steaks from a portion of it ; but it is not 
every one who knows where to " dig for the 
meat" on land. 

About fifty clams were taken from the sand 
on the afternoon we speak of, most of which 
were si.x inches long, and three ancF a half in 
breadth. They were measured by our friend 
Deacon Loring. 

But to change from sea to land stories. "We 
liave seen it stated in the papers that, a few d.ays 
since, an eagle, measuring seven and a half feet 
from tip to tip, was shot at Hull. We remem- 
ber to have seen Mr. Joel Walker kill a swallow 
on the wing there, at the first fire, to settle a bet 
of a dollar. He is an accomplished sportsman. 
We once saw him catch fourteen large frogs 
within an hour. 

In the fall and winter, Hull is much resorted 
to by gunning parties, who find capital sport in 
shooting ducks, which are generally abundant 
at the proper season, as are numerous other 
kinds of game. 



LETTER IX. 

The fort at George's Island— description of the 
zvorks there — progress made in the work — the 
dungeon for prisoners — the sea wall — the Great 
Brewster, once more— Nix's Mate — the fort at 
Castle Island — a negro forced to ride a loooden 
horse there. 

Hull, August, 1845. 

T VISITED George's Island yesterday af- 
ternoon, with a matrimonial party from 
Weymouth. The love and affection evinced 
on the occasion, among the " geese and the 
ganders," were of an excruciating charac- 
ter, and interested me much. The young 
ladies, when they get away from home, as 
you and I know, are always ripe for inno- 
cent frolic ; and if I had not been a very 
old man, like King Lear, I should have 
participated in their fun. 

George's Island is but a short distance 

from Hull, and the sail is a pleasant one. 

I made merely a flying visit, to see the 

fort, and had not an opportunity to make 

4 



all the inquiries I wanted to. Our party 
was there only an hour and a half: I could 
spend half a day profitably in examining 
the works. 

As far as the fort is finished, it is proba- 
bly the most substantial and magnificent 
piece of masonry in this or any other coun- 
try. It goes entirely ahead of the one at 
Newport, which is of the same class, and 
of the same model, with a few trifling ex- 
ceptions. The dry dock at Charlestown is 
a splendid piece of workmanship, but it 
bears no comparison to the fort at George's 
Island, the foundation walls of which are 
twelve feet thick, and the superstructure 
eight. It will have a most perfect com- 
mand over the two principal entrances to 
Boston harbor. 

Description of Fort Warren. 

The principal material used in building 
this fort, which was commenced twelve 
years ago. is granite, the best of which is 
from Quincy, and the inferior qualities, 
used for filling up, are brought from Cape 
Ann. The fronts are all neatly hammered 
and the workmanship of the mason is as 
even and as perfect as it possibly can be. 
The filling up, too, shows good materials 
and excellent mechanical skill. About a 
thousand barrels of cement are used annu- 
ally. Indeed the walls, like their founda- 
tions, are firm and impregnable. 

Two sides of the fort, the most important 
in case of invasion, those fronting Broad 
Sound and Light House channel, espe- 
cially the ramparts, are so far completed 
that the cannon intended for them can be 
placed there in two or three months.* 

(*NoTE — June, 1 848. ) The fort is now near- 
ly finished ; but, for want of money, the labor- 
ers have been compelled to suspend operations. 
There is but one cannon mounted, the same as 
in 1845. There are a few loose ones, however, 
ready to be mounted. If Congress would make 
the necessary appropriation, the works could be 
completed in one year from this time. George's 
Island is well worth looking at even in its un- 
finished condition. The fort at Castle Island 
is finished, and several guns are mounted. The 
materials of the baiTacks and other old build- 
ings have recently been removed to Hull, and 
will be worked up in a hotel about to be erected 
by Mr. Gould, New buildings are to be erected 
on Castle Island, as soon an appropriation is 
made for that object. 



84 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SHORE ; 



If our shores should ever be invaded, by 
the war ships of a hostile foreign nation, 
depend upon it that the fort on George's 
Island will give the American people a 
good account of them. When finished, it 
will have cost between three and four mil- 
lions of dollars. It is intended to mount 
several hundred guns there. 

One of the most interesting points of, at- 
traction to strangers at the new fort is what 
is called the prison. It is semi-subterra- 
nean, and situated on the NE. side ; to 
reach it you have to descend a long flight 
of stone steps. Having touched the ground, 
you walk about forty feet, and then turn to 
the left, when you find yourself in the 
"prison-house" of the fort, which extends, 
through several apartments or sections, a 
distance of over one hundred feet, and is 
capable of accommodating one thousand 
prisoners, if we should ever have as many 
in New-England, which is at least pro- 
blematical — unless the foul fiends disunion 
and insurrection should raise their bloody 
and unsightly crests on the soil of the Pil- 
grims. God forbid ! This prison is lighted 
and ventilated by apertures in the wall, 
two feet long and four inches wide, through 
which our infantry could keep up a brisk 
fire upon an enemy, if we should ever have 
one on the island, which I also very much 
doubt. But, " in peace prepare for war," 
■was one of the cherished maxims of the 
immortal Washington. The cost, to a 
great and powerful nation like the United 
States, of such defences as this fort, ought 
not to be thought of for a moment. 
The Workmen. 

Mr. Gould, who feeds the workmen, has 
to purchase his groceries and provisions by 
wholesale, potatoes by the ship load, flour 
by the fifty barrels, molasses by the hogs- 
head, tea by the dozen chests, coffee by 
the dozen bags, salt pork and beef by the 
twenty barrels, sugar and every other article 
in proportion. He has a large ice-house, 
which he finds very useful in preserving 
his meats. He has, also, a number of 
cows, and as fine a lot of four-legged live 
hogs as ever thrived in N. England. And 



when I speak of a four-legged hog, my 
dear colonel, I wish you to understand that 
I use the expression in contradistinction to 
two-legged hogs ; that I know several bi- 
peds in our goodly city of Boston, who are 
decidedly more hoggish in their manners 
and their feelings, than are the worst spe- 
cimens of the swinish multitude that I 
have ever seen.* Even in Ohio and Ken- 
tucky, where hogs run wild, they oboerve 
a proper respect for all who come in con- 
tact with them. I hope the bipeds I allude 
to will try to do better. I say I iwpe, for 
" moral suasion" is much belter than the 
"forcing system." 

(Note — June 13, 1848.) Speaking of 'the 
swinish multitude, it may not be inuldjiropos to 
mention, that Mr. Tower killed a porker this 
moiniing which weighed 200 pounds. It was a 
delicate and symmetrical creature. Mr. Knights, 
of New Hampshire, officiated as master of the 
bloody ceremonies; these were witnessed by a 
large crowd of citizens, including Brother Bates, 
whose attention was accidentally drawn to the 
scene, which was of a very thrilling character. 
In the first place, Knights attempted to entice 
the hog from a pasture to the place of slaughter ; 
he took it by the ears, and tried to pull it out — 
it was no go. The fishermeu here intefered. 
He then changed his position, and seized it by 
the tail, which was as long as an old-fashioned 
queue — such as our good old grand father used 
to wear. The excitement here commenced. 
After two or three hearty grunts, the hog made 
for the opening in the fence, and dragging 
Knights with him, -with the velocity of lightning, 
he soon l)rought up in the cow-yard. The spec- 
tators followed, shouting, " we've got him !" 
" we've got him !" Two or three of the stoutest 
men of the party rolled the creature over, and 
Mr. K. drawing a long knife from his bosom, 
deliberately plunged it into the throat of the 
victim — pretty much .as our friends in the South 
and West serve each other, in cases of emergen- 
cy. The gash was three inches long, and one 
and a half deep. Such a '• getting up stairs" as 
there was, at this moment, it is impossible to 
describe : the hog, with bloody throat, yelling 
most pitcously, bolted from the ring, among the 
crowd, but was soon brought back, and, in a 
few moments, drew its last breath. It ajiparcnt- 
ly suft'ered some at first, but its last moments 
were tranquil and it died easy. The spectators 
were sorrow-stricken at tlie sipht, and some of 
them thought it was a pity to kill so tine a pig, 
by cuttin;;' its throat — others tliOu;;ht that the 
change from life to death would lie attended 
with gratifyinj; results, to the stomaclis of the 
inmates of INlr. Tower's house esiieeially. The 
practice of throat-cutting, by the human species, 
was very generally denounced ; and it was con- 
ceded, even by the friends of the dead porker, 



Oa RANDOM SKETCnES. 



35 



The Sea Wdl. 
But to return to the fort on George's Is- 
land. Since last year the sea-wall, which 
extends from the south point to the north 
point of the island, and securely defends 
that part of it which faces the sea, and is 
exposed to its fury during a gale from the 
N, N E, or E, has been nearly completed. 
It is a strong piece of work, as strong as 
stone and iron can make it. If the sea, in 
its sauciest mood, when lashed into a ^'per- 
fect fury," can make an inroad there, or 
move a single stone, I never shall attempt 
to guess again. When the " foundations 
of the mighty deep" are broken up, and 
not till then, will this wall be shaken in 
pieces. The stones are each of them six 
feet long, three wide, and over a foot deep ; 
they are closely laid, and fastened together 
with heavy bars of iron, strongly riveted. 
It appears to me that no power under 
Heaven could move them ; and yet there is 
at times a fearful, terrible, unaccountable 
force in the sea — a force that makes us feel 



that it had, at different times, evinced much ob- 
stinacy, but particularly on the present occasion. 
Here Father Bates related an anecdote, and 
likened a few of the human family unto the 
swinish multitude. He mentioned one case in 
point. A few years ago (said he) there was a 
man in Vermont who had a verj' obstinate, fac- 
tious wife. In one of her worst fits, she threw 
herself into a neighboring river, and was 
drowned. Her disconsolate husband went to 
the water, and tried to find her body ; but, in- 
stead of following the stream, down the bank, 
he took an opposite direction. A neighbour ac- 
cidentally met him, and inquired his business at 
such an hour. " I'm looking for the body of my 
wife," said he — " she jumped into the river this 
morning, and was drowned." " Then," replied 
the other, " you must go the other way if you 
want to find it." " No, no !" exclaimed the hus- 
band — ■' my wife was so infernal contrary and 
obstinate that she would never go down stream, 
if I wanted her to — she is up there, somewhere, 
I guess : I'll go that way." This case reminded 
me of hog-catching, said Father Bates, and of 
some of the great human race, who resemble 
the swinish multitude. Mr. Tower then had 
his hog thrown into a scalding tub, rubbed down, 
dressed, and cut up. Some of the Ilullonians 
lingered about the scene of slaughter until after 
sunset. To some of the company, however, 
there was very little novelty in the transaction, 
while in the minds of others it awakened many 
painful associations, for they had lost some of 
their best friends m the same way. 



our own feebleness, and instinctively leads 
us to build our hopes and safety on Him 
who ''controls the whirlwind and directs 
the storm," rather than upon granite and 
iron, though to all appearances as strong 
as adamant, and indissolubly bound togeth- 
er.* In front of the wall, the whole extent 
of it, have been placed thousands of tons 
of large stones or rocks, to break the force 
of the sea before it strikes the wall ; an 
excellent idea. 

I trust the time is not far distant when we 
shall see a similar sea-wall at Point Alder- 
ton, and round the exposed parts of several 
other islands in Boston bay. The Great 
Brewster, near the lower lighthouse, is fast 
washing away on both sides. It is a mel- 
ancholy sight to look at. 

I have thus given you all the facts that 
I could pick up during my short visit to 
George's Island. You will bear in mind, 
that it is quite impossible to describe a 
thing, unless the thing exists ! This is the 
case with the fort, of the merits of which 
I have been attempting to furnish your 
readers an imperfect description. The fort 
at Castle Island is nearly finished. About 
twenty-five hands are bringing the work to 
a close, and the fort will be in a condition 
to have its guns mounted in a few weeks.t 

*Mr. Alonzo Lewis, describing a winter-gale 
at Nahant, has this remark ; — " Standingat such 
an hour upon the rocks, / have seen the waves 
bend bars of iron an inch in diameter^ double — and 
float rocks of granite, sixteen feet in length, as if 
they ivere timbers of wood." We almost wonder 
that he was not carried away by the force of the 
wind and tide. If he, good fellow as he is, had 
not also been a good poet — " his eye in a fine 
frenzy rolling" — we probably should never have 
heard of him again. More substantial than 
granite himself, may he live a thousand years. 

tSpeaking of Castle Island, we are reminded 
of the fact that, many years ago, a "colored 
gentleman," then called a negro servant, gave 
otience to the commanding officer, who ordered 
him to ride a wooden-horse, which was cruelly 
constructed for the purpose. The exercise was 
so severe, and so injurious withal, that Cuff 
barely escaped with his life. His friends took it 
in hand, sued the commander, and recovered 
heavy damages for the outrage, which was deem- 
ed so brutal by the populace, as the facts were 
developed in court, that a portion of them 
tlireatened to Lynch him, even after lie had been 
sentenced to pay a fine. The " law and order" 
party prevailed, however, as they generally do, 
except on great occasions. 



S6 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SHORE ; 



Effects of the Sea. 

The Great Brewster, -which has long 
been considered by homeward bound ma- 
riners as one of the most prominent, as 
•well as important points and land-marks 
in Boston bay — it being situated in the 
direction of the Graves, as they approach 
Boston light— belongs to Mr. Brackett, of 
Quincy, who lets it out. Hundreds of ves- 
sels load there, annually, with stone ballast 
and gravel. Within the recollection of 
many people in Hull, that island extended 
as far as the Spit, and cattle used to graze 
upon it; and I have been informed that, 
since Mr. Brackett became owner of it, 
fifteen or twenty acres of it have been 
washed away — probably to fill up the 
lighthouse channel or the Narrows ! 

Fifty years ago, where the monument 
called Ni.x's Mate now stands, there was an 
island, on which the grass grew luxuriantly; 
it was entirely washed away by the sea in 
a heavy N. E. gale about forty years ago. 
The Narrows, our principal ship channel, it 
is said, are fast filling up. It is the opinion 
of several of our most intelligent pilots, 
that a deposit of Jive or six feet of stones 
and gravel has been made there by the 
force of the sea within thirty years. In a 
few years it will cost a million, perhaps 
millions of dollars, to do that which might 
now be accomplished by the expenditure 
of one or two hundred thousands. 



LETTER X. 

Farther remarJcs in relation to the town of Hull and 
lis products— frog fishing — clam digging on Long 
Beach — anecdote about large clams — gunning 
parties — sites in ITidlfor cottages — salt uxirks of 
Mr. Henry Tudor — the industrious shoemaker 
— neio wharf and new hotel — sea bathing — an 
expert female dicer and swimmer — politics in 
Hull — its representative in the legislature, Mr. 
Tower, who made Marcus Morton governor of 
Massachusetts by his single vote. 

Hull, August, 1845. 
This letter will conclude my labors. I 
believe I have, somewhat hastily to be 



sure, alluded to almost everything of in- 
terest in Hull and its vicinity. I have 
formed a very favorable opinion of Hull, 
as a place of resort for recreation ai>d the 
improvement of the health of invalids. A 
lady does not have to make her toilet half 
a dozen times a day here. On many ac- 
counts, to my mind, it is superior to almost 
every other watering place I have visited ; 
and, if some of the enterprising men of 
Boston should turn their attention to it, and 
build a few cottages, and a large edifice 
for a private boarding house, it would not 
be long before it would be as popular a 
place of resort as Nahant. There is gen- 
erally a good breeze at Hull, which, come 
from what quarter it may, sweeps over the 
salt water. On several days during the 
past fortnight, while the good people of the 
city were sweating and broiling, with the 
thermometer at 90 to 100, the weather here 
has been quite cool and comfortable. 
Frog Fishing. 
There is good frog fishing at Hull. A 
friend of mine caught fourteen of these in- 
teresting fellows in one of the ponds, a few 
days since, in less than an hour, and we 
had them served up the next morning for 
breakfast — a "private arrangement." Per- 
haps some of your readers would like to 
know how to catch frogs. Let me instruct 
them. Take a fine line, about a yard and 
a half long, and tie it to the end of a very 
small pole of about the same length : put 
on a smelt hook, and bait it with a piece 
of salt pork of the size of a common pea : 
approach the pond cautiously, and then, 
as cautiously, put your bait directly over 
the mouth of the frog, as you see its head 
sticking out of the water: in nine cases 
out of ten the frog will snap at the bait, at 
once, and it is a gone case with his nimble 
majesty. As soon as it reaches the land, 
the frog contrives to divest itself of the 
hook, and makes for the pond again with 
the velocity of lightning. But you must 
be quicker than the frog ; you must seize 
it by its hind legs and beat its brains out ; 
it will not bite. When a frog shows no 
disposition to jump at your bait, all you 



OU RANDOM SKETCHES. 



37 



have to do is to lower it gently so that the 
hook will fall below its chin : then give a 
scientific jerk, the hook does its perfect 
work, and the prize is yours. A dressed 
frog resembles a human being — except, 
perhaps, that the phrenological develop- 
ments of its head are somewhat more prom- 
inent and intellectual than those of most 
men. Its hind quarters furnish very deli- 
cate eating, if broiled and buttered, as you 
cook a chicken, or they may be made into 
a fricasee, as the French almost invariably 
cook them : the other part of it is not con- 
sidered wholesome. Frogs should never 
be overdone, for they then become taste- 
less. But enough of this. I will only add, 
that a frog ready for the gridiron, is a beau- 
tiful creature to look at, and always reminds 
me of the picture of Eve in the garden of 
Eden ! 

Clam Digging. 

I have been clamming once since Icame 
down from the city, on Long Beach. The 
clams dug there are very large — some of 
them are six and a half inches long. Their 
meat is coarse and tough, like that of the 
quohog or Southern clam. The smaller 
clams, which are found in great abundance 
in this vicinity, are decidedly preferable 
for cooking. There is something about 
the history of the sand clams that will inter- 
est you. They lie generally within three 
or four inches of the surface ; and when 
you tread upon the surface under which a 
clam lies, it feels the pressure, and almost 
instantly you will find a hole open of the 
size of a five cent piece. This tells you 
where to dig. If you do not dig, the hole 
closes again in a minute or two, and there 
is no sign of a clam being there. I dug a 
dozen of these large clams, and left them 
together in a pile, while I moved on to find 
more. When I returned to the spot, the 
whole of them had disappeared. I asked 
mycompanion if he had put thera into his 
basket. He said, no ; but told me, at the 
same time, that they had probably dug 
into the sand again, which I found to be 
the case — all of them were below the sur- 
face, an inch or more ; and this was the 



work of five minutes only. Curiosity 
prompted me to try them again. I found 
that almost as soon as one of these clams 
was thrown upon the beach, it would ex- 
tend from its shell a hard piece of flesh, 
about an inch long, which the fishermen 
here call its tongue. With the aid of this 
it would turn itself over gradually, and 
make down into its natural bed.* In 
every heavy NE. storm there are thousands 
of these clams washed up, but they find 
their way into the sand again with as much 
facility as a thirsty gentleman can find a 
bar-room in Boston or New- York. Thin 
shelled clams have not the power that I 
have spoken of; besides, they always keep 
their holes open, like old snuff-lakers, to 
let you know they are ready for a pinch. 
Tudor' s Salt Works. 
The salt works of Mr. Tudor, at the Point, 
are an object of some interest to visiters at 
Hull. Mr. T. may be considered an ama- 
teur salt manufacturer, for he certainly 
cannot make much money by his works. 
There are about 5000 feet of vats and the 
quantity of salt made is 1500 bushels, 
which sells at $3 per hhd., or 40 cents per 
bushel, at retail. In larger quantities the 
price is less. It is a beautiful article, and 
in much request by fishermen; probably 
no better coarse salt is made in this coun- 
try. A few years since there were 9000 
feet of works in operation, and in one year 
3000 bushels of salt were made. There is 
a large reservoir on the beach, which is 
filled at every high tide. The water from 
this is forced some distance through logs 
into the vats, by a windmill. The young 
man who superintends the works has much 
leisure time, which he occupies in making 
shoes : he is an excellent workman, and 
gets twenty -three cents a pair for making 
men's dress shoes — such as sell readily in 
Boston for SI 50 and SI 75. The private 

(*NoTE^JuNE, 1848.) Quohogs, at Wel- 
fieet, where they are plenty, as at other places 
on Cape Cod, do the same. Fatlier Bates says 
he has often seen one crawl a foot on the sand, 
and then dig into it. We are learning some- 
thing every day, in relation to electricity, clam- 
ology, or the progress of steam. 



38 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SHORE ; 



residence of Mr. Tudor, in the summer 
season, is a delightful one : in his garden 
are raised corn, peas, beans, beets, carrots, 
onions, squashes, and all other vegetables 
in common use. This is remarkable, when 
its bleak and exposed situation is taken 
into view. Every gale that blows visits it 
roughly ; but it is closed about si.x months 
in the year. His salt works are a great 
accommodation to fishermen in this quarter, 
and he deserves credit for keeping them in 
operation. 

Sea BaOiing. 
The advantages for salt water bathing 
here are great. The beach, in Hull bay, 
extends a distance of about two miles, 
and any part of it can be used at high water 
or at half tide. It is especially favorable 
for ladies and children. There is a good 
bathing house a short distance from Tow- 
er's, in which they can adjust their bath- 
ing dresses; and he has a smart girl, who 
generally goes in with them, and who can 
swim, and dive, and flounder in the water 
\with as much skill as the best of Braman's 
pupils. She tells me she learned to swim 
and dive in the river Clyde, Scotland. I 
have never seen a female who could do so 
well in the water. Margaret is the pretty 
name she goes by. If she were to open a 
swimming school, all the young fellows in 
Boston would rush down to Hull to take 
lessons of her. 

But it is now " nothing new'' for females 
to swim gracefully. Mr. Braman, for a 
year or two past, has been in the practice 
of learning young ladies to swim ; and \ 
have understood that he has several pupils 
who evince much talent in that healthful 
exercise. His school, as you know, is 
thronged during the summer by our most 
respectable females. 

Political Importance of ITull. 
I cannot close my labors without alluding 
to the fact that the town of Hull, through 
her representative, Mr. Tower, made Mar- 
cus Morton governor of the commonwealth 
of Massachusetts. It is this fact which 
has given her much of the notoriety she 



possesses. I understand, from a good 
source, that there are about fifty voters be- 
longing to the town, in all. The limits of 
the town extend as far east as the salt- 
works, beyond Worrick's, and there are 
several voters in that vicinity. It embra- 
ces three or four islands in the vicinity, in- 
cluding the light-house, connected with 
which there are a number of voters, who 
have to deposit their votes in the village of 
Hull — some of them travelling a distance 
of six miles by land, and others two or 
three by water, to discharge this most im- 
portant duty of a freeman. Add to this 
the fact, that one half the voters are en- 
gaged in lightering and fishing, as long as 
it is safe to run their vessels, and the reader 
will readily perceive, that it is easy to ac- 
count for the small number of votes cast at 
our gubernatorial elections — a fact which 
has given rise to the expression, " As goes 
Hull, so goes the State!" When Mr. 
Tower was elected, there was a great po- 
litical excitement — it was "diamond cut 
diamond ;" but the democrats outwitted 
their opponents, after a hard struggle — be- 
tween the Atlas party and the ofBce holders 
— q;^ by getting down from Boston the 
crews of several vessels belonging to Hull. 
They reached home the evening previous 
to the election, (the second trial) and, by 
their votes the next day, they established 
the political character of the Bay state for 
the following year. And let it be remem- 
bered, too, that this was done by a single 
vote — by the representative of the smallest 
town in the commonwealth, chosen under 
the peculiar circumstances I have men- 
tioned. This is History. 

There are some of the most beautiful 
sites for cottages in Hull that can be imag- 
ined, and land is cheap. There is no gro- 
cery or other store here — no fire depart- 
ment — and no mechanical branch of busi- 
ness is followed. Every fisherman is his 
own mechanic. The whole population de- 
pend upon Boston and Hingham for their 
family stores, which they lay in in pretty 
generous quantities, so as not to have to go 
up to town often ! 



OR, RANDOM SKETCHES. 



39 



LETTERS FROM HINGHAM. 



The new steamboat Mayflower Capt. Beal — trav- 
elling on the South Shore — Ilingharti, Cohasset, 
Weifmoiith, Sj-c. — the manufacturing establish- 
ments in that region — hotels, and private boarding 
houses. 

HiNGHAM, August, 1845. 
I HAVE been spending a few days agree- 
ably on the South shore, where I found 
hundreds of our citizens enjoying them- 
selves, and inhaling the pure and beautiful 
sea breeze. Our old friend Capt. Beal has 
a first-rate boat in the Mayflower. She 
was christened in compliment to the noble 
vessel which brought our Pilgrim fathers 
to Plymouth rock, and bears upon her stern 
an appropriate and beautiful name for a 
boat that is daily crowded with the sons 
and daughters of the Old Colony. The 
Mayflower was built in New York, and is 
decidedly the finest boat that was ever 
driven by steam in the waters of our harbor 
and bay. She has very little motion — her 
machinery moves like clock work — even 
in the roughest of weather, sea-sickness is 
entirely unknown among her passengers. 
And in Mr. Cozzen, she has a skilful pilot 
and an accomplished engineer, while Mr. 
Siders, the clerk, is a gentleman of intelli- 
gence, quiet and agreeable manners, and 
is all attention to the passengers. To say 
any thing in praise of Capt. Beal would be 
an act of supererogation. He is so univer- 
sally known, so generally respected, for 
his many good qualities, that nothing I 
could say would add to his well-deserved 
popularity. Within the last twelve years, 
he has carried more children in his arms 
than all the nurses in Boston and Hingham 
put together: and the attention he ever 
bestows upon his lady passengers, has 
deservedly made him a great favorite with 
those "dear creatures" M'hose smiles and 
charms are considered one of the greatest 
comforts of domestic life. The crew are 
all neat in their dress, prompt in their 
duties, and civil to passengers. 



Nearly the whole deck of the Mayflower 
is shielded from the influence of the 
weather, the scorching sun, and the driving 
rain, by a solid ceiling, extending from 
near the bow of the boat to its stern. One 
thousand persons can be safely accommo- 
dated in her cabins, and other parts of the 
boat, in the worst of storms. The prom- 
enade deck affords a comfortable lounge 
in fair weather, to all who are fond of 
making observations, and "enjoying the 
scenery," as she runs between the numer- 
ous islands on her passage to and from 
Hingham. 

On the arrival of the Mayflower at 
Hingham — in the morning, at noon, and 
in the evening— stages are in wailingto con- 
vey passengers to their respective places 
of destination, at reasonable rates; to 
Cohasset, Sciluate, Weymouth, Marshfield, 
&c. A ride from Hingham to either of 
these places will repay the man of leisure, 
or the invalid in search of recreation and 
health, for the time and money he devotes 
to it. The good-natured countenances of 
Messrs. Furguson, Jones and Smith, the 
stage proprietors, are as familiar to travel- 
lers on the South shore as their old psalm 
books. Being active and prudent men 
themselves, they always employ civil and 
careful drivers ; and I have been informed 
that no accident has ever occured, from 
carelessness on their part. All along the 
shore, are good public houses and accom- 
modating landlords ; a plenty of good feed, 
"for man and beast" — fresh fish, clam 
chowder, and pure air. Go in whichever 
direction he may, it would be difficult for 
a stranger to make a mistake, if in search 
of innocent pleasure, of improved health 
and pretty women, or of an intelligent, 
industrious, thriving population. Vehicles, 
of every description, can always be readily 
obtained at Hingham, by those who desire 
to enjoy a drive to either of the neighbor- 
ing towns, to Nantasket beach and, '-though 
last^ not least, in our esteem," the fa- 
mous city of Hull. There has been quite 
a rush for the South shore this summer ; 
the public and private boarding houses 



40 



NOTES OX THE SEA-SIIORE ; 



have all been crowded, and mosquitos, like 
mackerel, have been unusually numerous, 
and active, and sharp-set. To a man of 
delicate taste, there is nothing so interest- 
ing as to slay one of these mischievous 
inserts, while in the act of fastening itself 
upon the pure white bosom of a beautiful 
girl. I have watched many a long minute 
to get a chance to brush one of them away! 

In Hingham there are two excellent ho- 
tels, one of which, near the Cove, is kept 
by Mr, Little, and is much frequented by 
parties frorri Boston and the neighboring 
towns : it is a very quiet establishment, the 
rooms are airy and well furnished, and the 
beds comfortable. A sojourn of a few days 
at this hotel must be of advantage to those 
who are in search of cool and refreshing 
breezes, and renewed health and strength. 

The Old Colony House is known to ev- 
ery one who has visited Hingham, that 
flourishing land of boxes, buckets, and new 
laid eggs. Its fame, as a place of genteel 
summer resort, has extended to every part 
of this country — even to the new state of 
Te.xas. Its present proprietor, Mr. Bryant, 
although quite a young man, has had con- 
siderable experience in one of the best 
hotels in Boston. Although he does not 
possess the legal knowledge of a Mans- 
field, yet it may be truly said of him, that 
he was brought up at the feet of Lord Ba- 
con, the Goliah of the bar — of the Exchange 
CofTee House. He is at all times very po- 
lite, and, unless some uncultivated mind 
or a tin pedler approaches him, there is al- 
ways a playful smile about his lips, and a 
graceful, good-natured nod of the head, 
which are at the service of every one.* 

(*NoTK— .JcNE, 1848.) Poor Bryant hcing 
deail, the Old Colony House was sold at auc- 
tion on tlic first of May Inst for about $7500, 
and was purchased by Mr. Edward Kiddle, an 
enterprising auctioneer of Boston, who has 
leased it to Mr. Dudley S. Locke, formerly of 
the Exchange Coftee House, a gentleman every 
way fitted to do justice to the ])ublic, and to 
please all who may favor him with a call. iWe 
hope he may succeed well at the Old Colony. 

Speaking of the Exchange Coflfee House, wc 
are pleased to learn that the reputation of this 
old establishment is handsomely sustained by 
its present proprietors, Messrs. McGiil & Fear- 



The extensive grove back of the Old 
Colony House is visited, almost daily, by 
pic-nic parties from the city and elsewhere : 
it is a beautiful and very popular place for 
such gatherings. Within a short distance 
from the house there are thousands of 
black and whortleberry bushes, in full 
bearing, which are free to all who choose 
to pick the fruit. The afternoon I returned 
home, one of these parties came up in the 
Mayflower, richly laden with the product 
of their industrious labor. There were sev- 
eral hundred men, women, and children 
belonging to it, and a happier, more cheer- 
ful, and fun-loving set of human beings, I 
never before looked upon. Some of them, 
after filling their baskets and tin kettles 
with berries, tore np bushes, roots and all, 
and bore them away in triumph! That 
was a fault ; but as they probably belonged 
to our party, their motto was — " to the 
victors belong the spoils of the victory." 

While I was in Hingham, I had an op- 
portunity to make a few observations and 
inquiries. I was agreeably struck with the 
fine appearance of the burying-ground, 
which has been much and tastefully im- 
proved within a few years. It shows a 
commendable spirit in those through whose 
exertions so agreeable a change in this 
"quiet resting place of the dead" was ef- 
fected. There have been few or no build- 
ings put up in Hingham since I was last 
there, four years ago ; in this respect, there 
are no signs of improvement. The mack- 
erel fishing is still carried on successfully, 
giving employment to a large portion of the 
active population of the town. The day I 
was there a schooner had just arrived, af- 
ter an absence of only three weeks, with 
one hundred barrels, Nos. 1 and 2 — giving 
about $75 to each of the crew — almost as 
much as an ordinary seaman would earn 
on an India voyage ; and I learned tiiat all 
the vessels from that port had been quite 

ing, who, witli their legal adviser and head 
book-keeper, are considcrtil by the travelling 
public ns among the best hotel keepers in the 
United States. And what is more, their cliar- 
ges are uncommonly reasonable — their table 
excellent. 



OH RANDOM SKETCHES. 



41 



as successful this year. I was informed 
that the keel of a ship of 750 tons and a 
bark of 350 were about to be laid for mer- 
chants in Boston, at the yard, in the vicin- 
ity of the steam-boat landing. The fe- 
males of Hingham, many of them, support 
themselves by sewing and knitting: they 
are quite industrious.* The same remark 

(* Note— June, 1848.) "We paid a visit to 
Hingham a few days since, ami saw many 
things to admire. The establishment of Messrs. 
J. Baker & Sons, for the manufi\cture of silk 
and worsted tassels, fringes, &c. does an exten- 
sive business, and gives employment to fifty 
persons, mostly females. It is directly opposite 
the Union Hotel, and is well worth examining. 
There are some pretty girls employed in this 
factoi-y — several of them are from Maine and 
New-Hampshire. While looking about the 
large room on the second floor we noticed that 
some of the girls were full of fan, which appear- 
ed to be made at our expense, for, as we sud- 
denly turned our eyes round to one of the tables, 
we saw a bright, dark-eyed maid making queer 
movements with her fingers — her thumb resting 
on her nasal organ — as much as to say, " No you 
don't, old fellow — you can't come it !" When 
she caught our eyes, she dropped her hand at 
once, and blushed like a blue bean. Mention- 
ing this occun-ence the next day to Father 
Bates, tliat worthy man said — " Sir, there was 
a meaning in her motions; they were purely 
masonic ; these females have their secret signs, 
the same as the masons did before the death of 
Morgan ; beware of them." We had not anoth- 
er word to say about the matter. 

The extensive bucket raanufiicturing estab- 
lishment of the Messrs. Wilder, near the Great 
Plain, is altogether a very interesting concern. 
We spent an hour or two there. It employs 
about twenty-five hands the year round, who 
work ten hours per day, at fair prices ; and they 
are a healthy set of men. The machinery is 
driven by water power — and it takes a consid- 
erable number of men to make a bucket, from 
the rough to its completion. The logs, spruce 
and cedar, are procured within a few miles of 
the factory ; they are then sawed up into blocks 
of diflPerent sizes, from 10 inches to 20 long ; 
these blocks are piled up in the yard to season, 
and then are cut up into slabs, Avhieh are turned 
into neatly curved staves, when they undergo a 
farther seasoning process. Hundreds of cords 
of this kind of stuft" are piled up near the main 
building, Avhilc tlie workmen inside are driving 
ahead with the seasoned stock. One man puts 
a bucket together, another hoops it, and passes 
it over to still another, who trims it oft' — some- 
times the hoops and handles are made of hard 
wood, and sometimes of iron or brass ; the brass 
mounted are the handsomest, and most costly. 
The establishment is a hive of industry, but 
most of the heavy work is done by ingeniously 
contrived machinery. We saw but few of the 
old tools in use, such as the hand-saw, the fore- 
6 



may be mad(; in relation to the young 
ladies of the neighboring towns, in all of 
which the shoe business is carried on ex- 
tensively, and, I am happy to add, profita- 
bly. The umbrella manufactory of Col. 
Cazeneau, gives employment to a large 
number of females. The coopering trade 
and other mecha?nic branches are carried 
on successfully there. At East Weymouth, 
in addition to the shoe business, there is 
an iron foundry in full operation, which 
gives constant employment to about one 
hundred persons. 

This region of country is celebrated for 
its remarkable enterprise and industry in 
the shoe trade, which gives constant em- 
ployment to thousands of men and women, 
who enjoy all the comforts, and many of 
them even the elegancies of life. There 
are many beautiful girls here, who would 
make excellent wives, for they can cook, 
wash, iron, bake, and sew, as well as wax 
the ends of their husbands if they do wrong. 

plane, the adz, &c. The workmen turn out three 
hundred l)uckcts daily, diftering in size and 
quality, and in prices from $2,50 to $10 per 
dozen. When we called upon our friends they 
were finishing large contracts made with traders 
in the Southern cities as far as New-Orleans. 
It would take more room than we can well 
spare at this time to give a full account of all 
we saw at this establishment, which is worthy 
of honorable mention. There are other estab- 
lishments of the kind in Hingham, we believe ; 
but none so extensive as that we have spoken 
of, whose proprietors arc polite and attentive 
to visiters. Connected witli their factory, is a 
large building in which the buckets are painted. 
After our visit to the Wilders, we went to the 
house of one of their neighbors, who owns two 
hundred hens. Hereafter, we shall give some 
account of the manner in which they lay their 
eggs, for Hingham eggs as well as buckets are 
celebrated all the world over. 

The view from Prospect Hill in Hingham. 
cannot well be surpassed — it o'ertops every 
thing of the kind on the South shore. The 
only difficulty about it is, it is too far from the 
Cove, the " centre of civilization," to make it a 
place of much resort to strangers. 

Among the stereotyped editions of human 
nature at Hingham, we were glad to see at the 
steamboat landing our old friend Capt. Harris 
who bears his age Avonderfully Avell, and is as' 
active as he was twenty-five years ago. This 
gentleman was formerly in the East India trade, 
and commanded a ship helongii>g to the entej- 
prising house of Bryant & Sturgis. H© has 
been in the employ of the steamboat company, 
as a faithful agent, for many years, and is a very 
useful man. 



42 



NOTES ON TIIE SEA-SIIORE ; 



LETTER II. 



Plymouth — tJie new hotel there— the rail road be- 
tween Plymouth and Boston — the towns, and 
islands, on the South shore passed by the May- 
flower, on her trips from Boston to Ilingham — . 1 • , Ul- 
\^ , rr -1 ' c- ,1 r> J J ji \ hearts, and as pure morals, in those public 
Dorchester Heights, South Boston, and the\ ' / r i . i 

Dui]uin2;9, as there are out of them. And 



brothers — The Houses of Correction, In- 
dustry, and Reformation for Juvenile Offen- 
ders, the Hospital, the Lunatic Asylum, &c. 
All these the traveller will gaze upon with 
interest, and he will naturally say to him- 
self — There are as good men, as warm 



Houses of Correction, Industry, and Reformation 
for Juvenile Offenders, the Hospital, Lunatic 
Asylum, ^-c. — the Farm School — Deacon Grant 
— Dangers attending boat sailing — the old Pace 
Course at Neponsct — Horse racing in general — 
Squantum, as it was some thirty years ago, and 
as it is at the present time — the toivn of Qitincy — 
the late John Adams, his wife, and Mr. John 
Quincy Adams — the Granite Ledges, jf-c. §'c. 

HiNGHAM, August, 1845. 
Evert person who visits Boston should 
take a trip to the South shore, in the 
steamer Mayflower, or on the rail road. 
There are always stages in waiting at 
Hingham to take passengers to every town 
along shore, as far as Plymouth ; and a 
visit to that place — the spot where our 
Pilgrim fathers first landed, after their 
perilous voyage across the Atlantic — will 
well repay the traveller for the time and 
money he may expend in making it. Be- 
sides, the new rail road is nearly comple- 
ted, and it will not be many weeks before 
one can make a trip to Plymouth — enjoy 
a good dinner at the new hotel — examine 
Plymouth rock: Col. Sargent's celebrated 
painting of the " Landing of the Pilgrims," 
and a number of other historical paintings ; 
all the curiosities in Pilgrim Hall, many 
of which were brought over in the May- 
flower ; and return to Boston again the 
same day.* 

In going from Boston to Hingham, the 
Mayflower passes a number of interesting 
points on her right, which cannot fail to 
attract the attention of travellers. Not the 
least of these, are the public institutions 
at South Boston, which cluster together 



when he says this, he will not be very far 
from the truth. Workmen, it is said, are 
building a new jail in that vicinity to take 
the place of the one in Leverett-street — 
and when that is finished South Boston 
will be perfect ! The asylum for the blind, 
a private establishment, stands upon a hill 
just before you reach the city institutions. 
This is one of the most useful establish- 
ments in New England ; its fame has ex- 
tended through the whole country. Col. 
Thomas H. Perkins has been one of its 
greatest benefactors and most liberal 
friends.* 

After leaving Castle Island on the left, 
the next interesting point the Mayflower 



(*NoTE— July, 1848.) Dorchestcr'Heights, 
celebrated in the revolution, now a part of South 
Boston, are seen on the right as you pass to 
Hingham. With many other apprentice boys, I 
" M'orked for my country" on those Heights, and 
at Williams's Island, during the last war, when 
Boston was threatened by an inva-sion by the war 
ships of Great Britain, which were " plenty as 
blackberries" in our waters during those days 
of trial and excitement. I was able to shovel 
gravel, carry two or three sods and wheel a 
barrow half full of dirt. I mention this incident, 
not from a feeling of self-glorification ! but 
merely to impress upon your mind the import- 
ant fact, that I labored sotne for my country in 
the last war — " honor enough" for any patriotic 
lad in the country ; and, if / don't tell the story, 
ivho shall 1 How will my posterity get at the 
fact 1 I did not do much during the revolution, 
to the best of my recollection, not having been 
in existence at that time ; but I have been 
acquainted with several old men who did, and 
some who were so foolish as to think they did, 
and used to say that they belonged to the famous 
tea-party which threw his majesty's tea over- 
board in the port of Boston ; but 1 had as much 
to do with that affair, probably, as many of 
... 1 1 t I 1. ■» ui them, who made stouter proffessions. You will 

hke so many benevolent and charitable I ^^^; j^^,^^ ^1,^ 1^^^^ ^f ^ J p^^y. A new can- 

didate for public sympathy and favor will be 

*Sf,e Appendix — Book II — for an ac- raised every year, undl another Avar with Great 

count of a ride over the rail road, a des- Britain takes place, or the character of human 

cription of Plymouth, the Pilgrim Hall, nature is radically changed for the better. This 

the new hotel &c. ^'ill "ot be in your Ume nor mme. 



OR EANDOM SKETCHES. 



43 



passes is the Farm School, which was in- 
corporated in 1835. This is on Thompson's 
Island, and lies on the right — a large four 
story brick building, painted green. It is 
called the Boston Asylum and Farm 
School for Indigent Boys, and is strictly a 
private establishment. Its object is the ed- 
ucation and reformation of boys who have 
committed no crime, but who, from loss of 
parents or other causes, are exposed to 
extraordinary temptations, and in danger 
of becoming vicious and dangerous mem- 
bers of society. The House of Reforma- 
tion for Juvenile Offenders, at South Bos- 
ton, is a municipal institution ; and none 
but young criminals, who have been con- 
victed of offences against the laws, can be 
admitted there. The difference between 
the two institutions will at once be seen. 
Since the opening of the Farm School, in 
1835, over four hundred boys have receiv- 
ed the benefit of its instructions, and most 
of them been bound out as apprentices, 
either to mechanics or farmers. During 
the past year^ there were about one hun- 
dred boys on the island : at present there 
are seventy. They attend school one 
week, and the next work on the farm — and 
in this way they receive a good English 
education, and^ become acquainted with 
farming. Their food is simple and good. 
The sales of hay, potatoes, and other pro- 
ducts, lastyear, after supplying the warits of 
the island, amounted to over f 600. The 
island contains one hundred and forty 
acres of land. The children attend pray- 
ers, morning and evening, and religious 
services on Sundays. There has been no 
physician on the island for three years, and 
only one death. The probability is, that 
there would have been more deaths if 
there had been more physicians ; but this 
must be spoken in an under tone. For 
want of funds the managers are constrained 
to refuse many applications for admission. 
A few years ago. Mr. Jacob Tidd, of West 
Roxbury, took one of the boys from the 
Farm school, to " bring up : " he was a 
poor orphan. By his exemplary conduct 
he gained the confidence of his master, 



who, at his death, having no family, left 
him his well-stocked farm and his comfort- 
ably furnished house, together with other 
property, valued at several thousand dol- 
lars. One of the teachers at the Farm 
school, by the name of Locke, a few years 
since was detected in inflicting upon some 
of the pupils the most exquisite cruelty 
that can be imagined : he was a finished 
brute in his education and* feelings, and 
was murdering the poor creatures by inches, 
when his nefarious conduct came to the 
knowledge of the public, who were so 
incensed against him that he had to clear 
out suddenly from the city, to " parts un- 
known." 1 believe he died recently in one 
of the Western states. On another occa- 
sion, some twenty of the boys were sailing 
in a boat belonging to the island, when it 
was accidentally swamped, and all but two 
of them were drowned. And before this 
accident, as I have been informed, two of 
the boys, were killed by lightning ; and one 
broke his neck, by falling from -the great 
beam in the barn. Deacon Moses Grant 
is the active manager of this excellent 
charitable institution, which is now con- 
ducted with more prudence than it former- 
ly was. The deacon's whole soul is devo- 
ted to this establishment, and to the glo- 
rious cause of temperance. He gives but 
little away in charity, of his own means ; 
but in dispensing the contributions of others 
he is considered a faithful and zealous 
agent ; and liberal as a prince. 

To the right of Thompson's island is 
Neponset, which, in its palmy days, was a 
place of considerable consequence. When 
I was a boy, there was a race-course in 
the vicinity of the hotel, which was patro. 
nised by many respectable ladies and 
gentlemen of Boston and the neighboring 
towns. The "jockey club," then in exis- 
tence, embraced the names of Stackpole, 
Whiting, Bigelow, Soper, Spurr, senior, 
and many other noble spirits, most of whom 
have long since "gone to that bourn whence 
no traveller returns." About the same 
time, if I remember rightly, there was a 
course in Brookline, just beyond the old 



44 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SHOBE 



Punch Bowl tavern, and in the direction 
of the Mill Dam, which was also much 
patronised by the people of Boston. The 
best blood horses of New Englaud were 
often seen on our turf, which was managed 
with a proper regard to decency and order. 
Finally, however, horse-racing became 
unpopular in this section of the country, 
and the courses spoken of were broken 
up. From that time to this, the large 
hotel at |Neponset has been unproductive 
property, and has been appropriated to 
almost every kind of use that can be 
thought of or mentioned. The Punch 
Bowl tavern, also, has long since been 
abandoned. It was once a gay place — 
and, to the "best of my knowledge and 
belief," all kinds of sport were carried on 
there. 

I believe it is now over thirty years since 
the last "trial of speed" between running 
horses, took place among us. Several 
efforts have since been made to introduce 
that kind of amusement; but T remember 
of 'no regular running matches, with the 
exception of now and then one, on the 
South Boston turnpike — single heats of 
two miles. There have been many trotting 
matches, however, within the last twenty 
years, on the Salem turnpike — betvi^een 
Chelsea and Lynn; on the Mill Dam, and 
at the course in Cambridge. And I could 
name several individuals, now dead, peace 
to their ashes ! who were most unmercifully 
cheated in some of these matches. On 
one occasion, through the advice of a "kind 
friend" — as he supposed him to be at the 
time — a good-hearted young gentleman, 
vr as milked OMi of three thousand dollars; 
and, as was afterwards ascertained, his 
"friend" and adviser, who was the stake- 
holder, shared the spoils with the winner! 
It takes years of severe experience to learn 
all the tricks of professional jockies. I 
have even known riders of fast-trotting 
horses to be sometimes bought up for a 
"valuable consideration" — thus not only 
deceiving their employers, but injuring the 
reputation of their horses. In such cases 
there is no remedy for the losers, who 



must "grin and bear it," or, like Jem- 
my Green in the play, be the laughing 
stock of every dealer in horse flesh, far 
and near. The fact is there are many 
simpletons in the habit of betting at horse 
races, and of buying what are called fast 
horses, who think they possess a con- 
summate knowledge of horse flesh, of the 
speed of horses, and of the tricks of those 
who make a living by riding and selling 
them, when, in fact, they know as little of 
the matter as the very turf over which 
their horses are made to trot. But it is now 
many years since I beheld a horse race. 
I have been present at many — on Long 
Island, at Camden in New Jersey, in 
Washington city, and other places at the 
South, and seen some of the best con- 
tested matches that ever took place in this 
country; but I have always considered 
that between Eclipse and Henry, in 1822, 
as decidedly the most interesting and 
thrilling. I shall never forget that race. 
Mr. Purdy had always previously rode 
Eclipse ; but, on the occasion to which I 
refer, at the first heat, that noble animal 
had a new rider, and, as you may remem- 
ber, he was beaten. Among other gentle- 
men on the judges' stand at the time, was 
John Randolph of Roanoke, and it was 
amusing to see him and his South- 
ern friends exult at the triumph — mo- 
mentary, as it turned out to be — of 
Henry, a beautiful creature, over the crack 
horse of the northern turf. Purdy, on the 
other hand, was sensibly affected — he shed 
tears profusely. I recollect the incident 
well. And when he mounted Eclipse, for 
the second heat, there was a new feeling, a 
new confidence, among the friends of the 
northern horse. Bets, however, ran de- 
cidedly in favor of Henry — two to one, and 
three to one. For the first and only time 
in my life did I risk money at ahorse race 
on this occasion, by betting in favor of the 
northern horse. The result is well known. 
Eclipse won the second and third heats, 
and took the purse of $25,000, in presence 
of some seventy-five or a hundred thousand 
persons. I have seen other races since, on 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



45 



the Long Island course, but never one that j 
interested me half so much as did that 1 1 
have just spoken of. Besides, at that day, 
the races were patronised by the best fam- : 
ilies in New York. 

• It is an easy matter to account for the ^ 
fact mentioned above, that the sports of 
the turf fell into disrepute in New Eng- 
land at an early day. There was always 
more or less gambling carried on at the 
races here — the same as there is now on 
Long Island, in New Jersey, at Washing- 
ton, and other places south, where th<3 
gaming table appears to be an indespensa- 
ble appendage of the turf. There is no 
disguising this fact. If roulette, faro, and 
other tables are not allowed on the ground, 
in plain sight to all who have eyes to see, 
they are to be found under cover within a 
few rods of the course, in great abundance. 
The races over, a portion of the crowd as 
naturally flock to these tables as another 
portion do to their drinks and their dinners. 
On one occasion, at the south, in a building 
adjoining the race-course, I remember to 
have counted over twenty gambling tables 
in full and succe-ssful operation, and some 
of the bettors were men who stood high in 
the councils of the nation. The tables 
were all surrounded by an.xious sportsmen, 
and each table had upon it piles of gold, 
and silver, and bills. Is it to be wondered 
at, then, that this kind of amusement has 
never been able to take root in the soil of 
New England 1 I say nothing of the fact, 
that, at the south, the races are generally 
celebrated as a gala season by the vilest of 
the female population. 

After this digression, I come to the cel- 
ebrated place called Squantum, which for 
a long time antecedent to 1820, was a 
favorite resort of all the " choice spirits" 
of Boston and the country round, who were 
in the habit of assembling in great num- 
bers — from five to eight hundred — to enjoy 
a " feast of the good things of the sea, the 
sand, and the orchard. It was called the 
*' Squantum feast," and was intended as a 
celebration in honor of the Indian tribes 
who inhabited the soil over two centuries 



ago.* I was present at the feast of 1819, 
and that of 1820 — and as your young read- 
ers know but very little of what their fath- 
ers did, I shall take some pains to enlight. 
en them, especially as the present genera- 
tion have no amusements of the kind to 
engage their attention. As the world grows 
older, it appears to me, the people become 
more cautious in their amusements, and 
are compelled to do those things stealthily 
which their fathers did above-board. I 
regret to see this state of things. If the 
old men, and the young men, of the pres- 
ent day, were to join in a " Squantum 
feast," they would be unceremoniouly de- 
nounced, by a large portion of the commu- 
nity, as crazy and dissipated. The pulpit 
would thunder its anthemas at their devo- 
ted heads, and a portion of the press, pro- 
fessing to be more pure than the rest, 
would cry out, shame ! But^ as you are 
some few years younger than myself, my 
dear colonel, and came " from the country" 
Greene, permit me to tell you what " our 
first men" used to do at the Squantum 
feasts. My extracts shall embrace a pe- 
riod of only eight years, commencing in 
1812. The Columbian Centinel of August 
26, of that year, has this paragragh on the 
subject, which v;ill give you some idea of 
the quality of the men who participated in 
those feasts : — 

"Squantum Festival. This feast was 
celebrated on Monday last by between 500 
and 600 citizens from the country and 
town, in ample and ancient form. Every 
thing conspired to render the day harmo- 
nious and agreeable. Of the invited 
guests, were Gov. Strong, Lieut. Gov. Phil- 
lips, Mr. Secretary Bradford, Com. Bain- 
bridge, Rev. Dr. Morse, Hon. Messrs. Rice 

* " At Massachusetts, near the mouth of 
Charles river, there used to be a general rendez- 
vous of Indians. The circle which now makes 
the harbors of Boston and Charlestown, round 
by Maiden, Chelsea, Nantasket, Hingham, Wey- 
mouth, Braintree and Dorchester, was the cap- 
ital of a great sachem, much reverenced by all 
the plantations of Indians round about. * * * * 
The tradition is, that this sacliem had his seat 
upon a small hill, or rising upland, in the mid- 
dle of a body of salt-marsh, in the township of 
Dorchester, near to a place called Squantum. 
Hittchinsori's History of Mass., Vol. I. 



46 



NOTES ON THE SEA-SIIORE ; 



and Fiske of the Council, Hon. Mr. Bart- 
lett, and many gentlemen from the southern 
stat3S. At 5 o'clock, the Governor and 
Lieutenant Governer returned, when an es- 
cort was formed, under the direction of 
IMaj. Josiah Quincy and Capt. Charles P. 
Phelps, who conducted the guests to town, 
followed by a long train of carriages and 
chaises. Neponset bridge was handsome- 
ly decorated on the occasion. The good 
ship Washington (a miniature ship) was 
saluted and cheered, and the salute and 
cheers were returned." 

This was in 1812, about the commence- 
ment of the last war with Great Britain. 
During that war, as is well known, politics 
ran high, and parties were much divided. 
This had some effect upon the Squantum 
celebrations, the democrats having absent- 
ed themselves from them; but the federal- 
ists kept possession of the field, and held 
a feast annually during the war, giving to 



strong water, [bimbo) she delivered the fol- 
lowing TALK : — 

"BiioTHEiis — Open your ears ! Squan- 
tum is very glad to see the wliite men of 
the ocean once more united. 

'•Brothers — Many moons have gone 
away since we have seen each other. The 
white men have been divided into parliei, 
and Squantum will not come amongst 
those who hate one another. 

"Brothers — The great Sagamore of the 
nation (President Monroe) has visited you. 
He has united all hearts. You have again 
become a band of brothers: and Squantum 
can now offer you the pipe of union. 

'•Brothers — Listen! You are all wel- 
come. You have come to bury the tom- 
ahawk OF PARTY. Dig deep the grave 
of it; and let the rock of Squantum keep 
it buried, as long as the grass grows, or the 
waters run in the Neponset. 

"Brothers — Open a kind ear! The 
Great Spirit guided the white men across 
the great deep to these shores of Mattapan ; 
1 • , 1 i ^"J '^16 children of the forest, who once 

their proceedings a decided party tone. A ! possessed the country, have been driven 
year or two after the war an effort was ! beyond where the sun goes to rest. Of 
made by some of the prominent men of i the whole race of the red people, Squan- 

■k«*v. v..,..*;^^ ♦„ v,.,,r „„• r , t u ' turn only is left, and she has no place 

Dotn parties to nave a union least, to bury , •', , , ' , i u * .v ^ i- i 

/^ ' •' whereon tc lay her head, but that on which 

the hatchet, and smoke the calumet of she now stands. She goes soon to her 
peace. The annexed extract from the' brothers in the west ; but before shegoeSj 
Centinel will show how they succeded in ' ^^e leases this spot to the white men for 



their peaceful efforts : — 

From the CoI'mbian Centikel, of July 30, 1817. 
FEAST OF SQUANTUM. 

The anniversary of this ancient Feast 
■was celebrated on Monday last, at the I 



three times thirteen moons — on condition 
that they celebrate her feast once in every 
year, and smoke a pipe to the memory of 
her grandfather, the great king Squanto — 
the best friend of the white men. 

Brothers — Enjoy the good things of 



usual spot in Mattapan bay, in aboriginal! the sand and the sea. Smoke the pipe of 



style. The federal committee of arrange 
ments, desirous that the celebration might 
be in the spirit of the times, and that the 
tomahawk of party should be buried deep, 
made their invitations general, and the 
celebrators were very numerous, and em- 
braced functionaries, citizens and strangers 
of all parties. The day was fine, and the 
cood things of the sea and sand, of the 
first quality, were served up by Mr. Seaton, 



union and good feelings; ana receive 
Squantum's blessings, and her leave to fry 
as many fish as you can catch, and boil as 
many clams as you can dig. Farewell ! " 
A rock had been previously loosened and 
rolled from the highest clilT of Squantum, 
to form the tombstone of the tomahawk 
which the celebrators had convenetl to 
burv. At the proper time, Squantum cast 
a tomahawk and hatchet into the grave 



in great abundance, and in e.vceilent order, i dug for the purpose, which the celebrators 
all day long. After the second repast, a immediately buried, and rolled thereon a 
Sanop anounced that Squantum was ap-! rock from the cliff. The usual ceremonies 
preaching to brighten the chain of friend- 1 of smoking and parting succeeded, and 
ship, and to hold a talk with the white men j Squantum and her train retired to the west, 
assembled on her domain. She was ac-| A translation of the talk was then read by 
cordingly introduced to the president of the president of the day, who put the ques- 
Uie day, by the head marshal, and was ac- 1 tion, if the white men confirmed the con- 
companied by five of her tribe, bearing tract ? when Marshal Prince, in a very an- 
ohve branches, and all dressed in thehab-, imated speech, expressed a wish that the 
iliments of her race. After having smoked , tomahawk might be buried forever, and 
a pipe of union and partaken of a cup of that henceforth the only emulation among 



OR RANDOM SKETCHES. 



47 



brethren of the same great family might 
be. who should best serve their country 
and one another. This was confirmed by 
three hearty cheers. 

Every thing went on harmoniously the 
next year; and. until the feasts were aban- 
doned, somewhere about the year 1822, the 
hatchet of party discord continued to re- 
pose in quietness, in the grave which was 
dug for it by Major Russell and Marshal 
Prince, and other prominent politicians of 
that day. The Centinel, of August, 1819, 
containa this notice : — 

FEAST OF SQUANTUM. 

The ancient Feast of Squantum will be 
celebrated this year on Monday next, at 
the rural spot, on the banks of the Nepon- 
set, consecrated time out of mind to this 
festival. High water at 2 o'clock. 

The Council have thought it best that 
the badge delivered by the scribes to the 
celebrators shall entitle them to the well 
provided good things of the sea, the sand, 
and the orchard, at $1. Those, therefore, 
who desire other beverage than good cider 
will please to bring it with them, or pur- 
chase it at the wigwams which will be 
erected for their accommodation. The 
first course of good things will be served 
up at 10 o'clock, and continued until the 
falling of the waters. 

The Council have examined the tomb of 
the hatchet, and report — " That it continues 
buried in the bowels of the earth, with the 
huge rock still over it, and cannot rise 
while the grass grows and the water runs." 

The scribes will attend at their usual 
booth, on the ground, and the celebrators 
will be introduced by the marshals. 

Rocks of Squantum, August 2, 1819. 

The feasts at Squantum were finally 
abandoned, as I have been informed, be- 
cause they became " too common ;" and 
because scenes of rowdyism were intro- 
duced into them by professional sportsmen 
and idlers, of the lowest kind, whose bois- 
terous rudeness and vulgarity, and whose 
propensity to gamble, drove away all de- 
cent men. The celebrations fell into dis- 
repute, and were finally abandoned, with 
much reluctance, by those who for more 
than a quarter of a century had participa- 
ted in them. 

The late Major Russell, who, for half a 
century, filled an enviable place in the 
public eye, often officiated as the sachem. 



Many of the characters in the feasts — law- 
yers, merchants and mechanics — were of- 
ten dressed in Indian costumes, and their 
grotesque appearance afforded an infinite 
degree of amusement to all present. 

Squantum is now a place much resorted 
to, by fishing and other parties. There is 
a good house of entertainment there, with 
lodging-rooms, a long dining hall, bowling 
allies, &c. j and it is considered by many 
as the most romantic spot in the vicinity 
of Boston. A hungry man, in search of a 
good fish or clam dinner, will be always 
sure to find one at Squantum. By water, 
it is about five miles from Boston — by land, 
over good roads, six or seven. 

Between Squantum and Boston lies old 
Spectacle — an island more resorted to, by 
sailing and afternoon fishing parties, than 
any other in Boston harbor. It is four 
miles from Boston, and there is an excel- 
lent hotel there, kept by Mr. Woodroffe, a 
gentleman of popular manners, who does 
an excellent business. I remember to 
have gone ashore there, several years ago, 
with the " veteran whist club," and some 
other old bo-hoys, who hired a colored gen- 
tleman, who happened to be there with 
Dorcas, Dinah and Phillis,to fiddle for them. 
The agility of my venerable friends, in the 
jig, reel, cotillion and waltz, was highly 
commended by the colored ladies, who 
stood at a distance. 

The next towns on your right, as you 
pass Squantum, are Quincy, Braintree and 
Weymouth, and then comes Hingham, 
which I have already spoken of. Quincy 
was formerly a part of Braintree, where 
John Adams, of revolutionary memory, was 
born, before that town was divided. He 
died, it will be recollected, on the fourth 
of July, 1826 — the same day on which the 
illustrious JefTerson died. His last words 
were, "this is a glorious day !" 

The house in which Mr. Adams was 
born, a small two story building, is now in 
what forms a part of Quincy : it is a place 
of much interest to the good people of that 
town, as well as to others. His body was 
deposited under the Unitarian church, by 



48 



NOT£S ON THE SEA-SHORE J 



the side of his wife, Mrs. Abigail Adams, 
who died some years before the old patri- 
ot. There is a tablet near the pulpit in 
that church, bearing the following chaste 
inscription, from the pen of his son, Mr. 
John Quincy Adams : — 

Liberiatan, jhnintinm Fidem Betenebis. 
I). O. M. 

Beneatli these walls are deposited the mortal 
remains of John Adams, son of John and Su- 
sannah Bovlston Adams ; second president of 
the United States. Born 19-30th October, 17.3.5. 
On the 4th of July, 1776, he pled<xed his life, 
fortune, and sacred honor, to the independence 
of his country. On the 3d of September, 1783, 
he affixed his seal to the definitive treaty with 
Great Britain, Avhich acknowledj;;cd that inde- 
pendence, and consummated the redemption 
of his pledge. On the 4th of July, 1 820, he m';is 
summoned to the independence of immortality, 
and to the judgment of his God. This house 
■will bear witness to his piety; this town, his birth- 
place, to his munificence; history to his patri- 
otism ; posterity to the depth and compass of 
his mind. 

At his side sleeps, till the trump shall sound, 
Abigail, his beloved and only wife, daughter of 
William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith : in every 
relation of life a pattern of filial, conjugal, ma- 
ternal, and social virttie. Born Nov. 1 1 -22d, 1 744; 
died 28th Oct. 181 8, aged 74. Married Oct. 1764. 
During an union of more than half a century, 
they survived, in harmony of sentiment, princi- 
ple^and aiFection, the tempests of civil commo- 
tion, meeting undaunted, and surmounting, the 
terrors and trials of that revolution which se- 
cured the freedom of their times, and brightened 
the prospects of futurity to the race of man upon 
earth. 

PILGRIM, 

From lives thus spent thy earthly duties learn, 
From firncy's dreams to active virtue turn ; 
Let freedom, friendship, faith thy soul engage. 
And serve like them thy country and thy age." 

The house in which John Adams died 
is called the family mansion, and is now 
occupied by Hon. John Quincy Adams, a 
man whose name will live in history, as 
long as the 'grass grows and the water runs.' 
No other man, precisely like him, has ever 
lived in this country ; and whoever shall 
have the honor of writing his biography, 
will have the labor of years to perform. It 
will require no common mind to do him, 
and his vast complicated public services, 
and his private virtues, merited justice. 

If, in this vast extent of country, there 
can be found, at the time of his death, a 
man of his unyielding perseverance, his 



untiring industry, his goodness of heart, his 
unshrinking moral courage and thorough in- 
dependence of mind — regardless of the 
sneers and puerile criticisms of this com- 
mentator or of that — his remarkable abste- 
miousness, so far as the sensual appetites 
are concerned, and his unsurpassed merits 
as a diplomatist and statesman ; that man 
will be designated, by his countrymen, as 
one qualified to perform the important task 
I speak of.* Mr. Adams always rises at 
an early hour in the morning — in the sum- 
mer season by day-break ; and in the win- 
ter, he frequently performs considerable 
labor by candle-light, long before his 
neighbors begin their daily occupations. 

There is an excellent hotel in Quincy, 
which is kept by Mr. French, a son of the 
old post-master — as fine a young fellow a^ 
ever entertained weary travellers. It i.s 
directly opposite the Unitarian church. 

The granite sent from Quincy to differ- 
ent parts of the country annually, amounts 
to two or three hundred thousand dollars. 
There are twelve large ledges, besides 
several smaller ones, carried on by differ- 
ent individuals, and giving employment to 
about four hundred persons. 

(*NoTE — June, 1848.) Since this was writ- 
ten, Mr. Adams has departed this life, as ev- 
ery one knows. With the numerous tributes of 
respect paid to his memory every intelligent 
reader is, also, acquainted. The eulogy on his 
life and character, delivered in Faneuil Hall by 
President Everett of Harvard College, is a just, 
noble, and spirited production — as finished a 
narrative of his life, public and private, as could 
have well been penned, under all the circum- 
stances. But, where the field was so extensive 
and luxuriant, the friends of this ripe scholar 
and eloquent speaker expected nothing less of 
him, than the able and highly finished eulogy 
he lias jiroduccd. We commend it to the at- 
tention of every one. 

The discourse delivered in Quincy, at the in- 
terment of Mr. Adams, is another production, 
of the same stamp, which should be read by ev- 
ery admirer of genius and a vigorous style of 
composition. Tliere is a AvondiTful degree of 
feeling pervading every page of it. The re- 
marks of Mr. Jjunt, specially addressed to the 
reprt'sentatives of the nation, at the close of his 
discourse, are strikingly pertinent and beautiful. 
We luxvc never read an occasional sermon with 
one half the gratification we enjoyed in reading 
this. 



APPENDIX. 



INDIGNATION MEETING AT HULL. 

(Note — June, 1S4S.) — Since this was written, 
the wrecks here spoken of", — see page 15, — have 
been removed Aom the beach, the fragments be- 
fore Mitchell's house burned up by the inhabitants 
for fuel, and other improvements ejected; but 
the frequency of shipwrecks on Nanlasket beach 
and its vicinity, on Cohasset rocks, at Scituate, 
Marshfield, and other places, is a subject which 
engrosses the attention and thoughts of the HuUo- 
nians, who are too often shocked at the accounts 
which appear in the Boston papers, and who are 
so frequently called from their beds at the dead 
hours of the night, to save the lives and property 
of others, that they have been compelled to get up 
an indignation meetings and to express their sen- 
timents very freely upon this important subject. 

The Shade of Alden attended this meeting, by 
invitation of the selectmen, and, at their request, 
has given some account of it below. It is grati- 
fying, also, to see that the Boston underwriters 
have adopted measures to check this crying nui- 
sance to the people of Hull and the fishermen of 
Hingham. The following notice we cut from the 
Daily Advertiser : — 

" Notice. At a meeting of the Board of Un- 
derwriters, (comprisuig the Presidents of all the 
Marine Insurance Companies in this city ) held 
this day, at their rooms, it was 

" Resolved, That this Board will hereafter ex- 
amine into all cases of shipwreck or disaster, 
happenmg without extraordinary cause, to vessels 
insured by any of their respective companies ; 
and ascertain if the cause or causes of such ship- 
wreck or disaster are to be attributed to the care- 
lessness, want of proper judgment, neglect, or 
the important precaution of trying the soundings 
on approaching the land, or to any other gross 
negligence on the part of the master or other 
navigator of such vessel or vessels. 

" Boston, May 27, 1848." 

The meeting we refer to in our introductory 
remarks took place on 'Change, in Hull, a short 
distance from Tower's hotel, and was organised 
by the choice of Capt. Mitchell as chairman, and 
Capl. Lawton as secretary. The objects of the 
meeting having been fully and intelligibly explain- 
ed by the chairman, a committee of three was ap- 
pointed to draft resolutions in relation to the 
alarming increase of shipwrecks on the shores in 
the vicinity of Hull, Cohasset, Marshfield, &c. 
This committee retired, and. after an absence of 
thirty minutes, returned with the following pre- 
amble and resolutions, viz. : 



Wheee.^s, the quiet, industrious citizens of 
Hull have noticed, with regret and indignation, 
but with the feelings of men and of christians, as 
they humbly trust, the rapid increase of ship- 
wrecks, and of accidents to our mercantile ma- 
rine, on Nantasket beach, the Hardmgs, Cohas- 
set rocks, at Marshfield, Scituate, and other pla- 
ces in that vicinity : And whereas, those which 
have occurred of late are believed to have been 
caused, for the most part, through the ignorance, 
inexperience, carelessness, or want of proper 
attention and skill on the part of those in com- 
mand of the vessels which have been partially or 
wholly wrecked — in some instances involving the 
loss of valuable human lives as well as property : 
And whereas, of late years, we have been shock- 
ed at the frequent midnight calls made upon us 
to proceed to Long-Beach and its neighborhood, 
to save the fragments of wrecks and the lives of 
mariners : And whereas there is reason to be- 
lieve, that many of the youthful captains sailing 
out of Boston are unfitted for the business they 
are engaged in, either from a want of experience 
as seamen, sound judgment and skill as naviga- 
tors, or the absence of a proper alacrity when 
approaching the coast, and who are too often put 
in command of vessels through the undue influ- 
ence of wealthy relatives : And, whereas, these 
things are becoming highly offensive to the un- 
pretending, hard-fisted citizens of Hull and of 
Hingham, some of whom have followed fishing 
twenty-five and thirty years, without running 
ashore, or without meeting with a single acci- 
dent : Therefore, 

Resolved, That there are four points to the 
compass — N. E. S. W.; and any captain of a 
vessel who cannot box the compass, deserves to 
have his ears boxed. 

Resolved, That an education received by rub- 
bing against the walls of a college, or passing, 
through its halls, is not so serviceable to a sea- 
captain as one received upon the Ocean, amidst 
high winds, heavy seas, and hard knocks. 

Resolved, That maps and charts are useful to 
navigators at sea, and he who neglects to study 
them thoroughly is a blockhead of the first class, 
and ought not to be entrusted with the command 
of a first class ship. 

Resolved, That the beach at Marshfield is not 
Boston Light House, " any way you can fix if.'' 

Eesolved, That no captain of a ship has a right 
to run his jib-boom into the lantern of Boston 
Light, through mistake or carelessness — suppos- 
ing himself to be fifty miles from the shore at the 
time. 

Resolved, That the light on Eastern Point, at 
the entrance of Gloucester harbor, a steady light, 



50 



APPENDIX. 



cannot well be mistaken, except through sheer 
ignorance, for that at the entrance of Boston har- 
bor, which is a revolving one. 

Resolved, That Boston Light and Cape Ann 
are thirty miles apart, and cannot be made much 
shorter, even by the aid of a straight railroad from 
point to point. 

Resolved, That Cohasset rocks, on the Sorth 
shore, although theyresemble some others, on the 
North shore, are not one and the same thing ; and 
it is important ihat this fact should be generally ' 
understood. 

Resolved, That any captain, while nearing the 
rocks spoken of, or any others, who fails to use 
his deep-sea line, or his hand-lead, constantly, 
until he finds out his right position, is unfit to have 
charge of a valuable ship and cargo, and the more 
valuable lives of her crew and passengers : his 
own is of but little consequence to the rising gen- 
eration. 

Resolved, As the deliberate opinion of this meet- 
ing, that when a sea-captain, if approaching our 
coast, his course due W , finds himself getting 
rapidly into shoal water, the safest way is to wear 
ship, and run to the Eastward, instead of running 
plump upon the beach or the rocks. 

Resolved, That a sea-captain might as well be 
a h;ird-drinker, at once, as to be extremely igno- 
rant of his reckoning and his bearings, under a 
bright sky and a brighter sun. 

Resolved, That our labors as wreckers are 
often severe and perilous, but well-intended, dis- 
interested, and zealous ; and that we look to the 
underwriters for a proper remuneration, in all 
cases where assistance is rendered to vessels in 
distress. It is not right for them to cavil at small 
charges, when they are just. 

Resolved, That Father Bates be respectfully 
requested to preach a sermon upon the important 
points embraced in these resolutions. 

At the suggestion of the chairman, the follow- 
ing resolution was added to ihose reported by 
the committee : 

Resolved, That any captain who runs his ves- 
sel ashore, from inadvertence or other cause, and 
throws only half his cargo overboard, where it 
can be fished up with facility by wreckers, is en- 
tilled to more consideration and favor, at the 
hands of underwriters, than he who meets with a 
total loss, vessel and cargo. 

He enforced the adoption of this excellent reso- 
lution with some eloquent remarks, and the meet- 
ing approved it. The whole subject was (hen 
thrown open for discussion. Several gentlemen 
addressed the meeting, and bore with unsparing 
severity upon the gross negligence and careless- 
ness of the commanders of several vessels which 
had been either wrecked or damaged within the 
last few years. 

Capt James attributed many of the recent ac- 
cidents to carelessness entirely. He had no com- 
passion for those who, from inattention and 
ignorance, endangered human life and the valua- 
ble property of their employers. They never 
used the lead in approaching the shore ; in this 
they were censurable They lacked judgment, 
also ; were often wrong in their reckoning, and 
wanted experience. Besides, some of the young 
captains were too proud to consult with their 
mates, men of more knowledge and experience 
than themselves, and would even spurn excellent 
advice when volunteered by them. He had 
known many instances of this kind: a better feel- 
ing should exist between captains and mates. A 
man might answer very well to amuse passen- 



gers, in the cabin, and yet be unable to sail his 
ship welL This is too often the case. He had 
some feeling for a captain suddenly caught on a 
lee shore, in a heavy gale: he might, perhaps, 
have made a trifling mistake in his reckoning, 
and did n't hit exactly right: after casting over 
his anchors, cutting awaj' his masts, and throw- 
ing overboard heavy articles of his cargo, then, 
if he was driven ashore, there was some excuse 
for him; but he had no charity for a man vi'ho 
would run his ship ashore, in good weather, un- 
der full sail, with even his royals set. He had 
known such cases lately, and gave the names of 
several vessels and their commanders, the losses 
on them and their cargoes, and the amount of in- 
surance effected. His remarks were satisfactory. 

He had been on the water from a boy upward, 
and never yet met with an accident. The cause 
of almost all accidents was carelessness, care- 
lessness, carelessness I combined, too frequently, 
with vanity, ignorance, and inexperience. If the 
insurance offices did not keep a better look-out, 
and adopt a more rigid scrutiny, with regard to 
the quiilifications of young master mariners, they, 
too, like some of the ships they insure, would 
soon go to destruction, with all sail set — high and 
dry, a total loss I [Tremendous cheering Capt. 
J. is about sixty years of age, a fluent speaker, 
and much esteemed by his fellow townsmen.] 

Capt. Dill next took the floor. He appeared 
to be a very modest, gentlemanly sort of a mari- 
ner. He spoke of his own experience with much 
diffidence, but deprecated, in glowing terms, the 
frequent shipwrecks upon our coast, nearly all 
of which, he was sure, originated in ignorance 
or carelessness. He had sailed thirty years out 
of Hingham and Hull, and did not hesitate to 
assert, that any captain, even of a mackerel-boat, 
belonging to either place, would be severely cen- 
sured, if not discharged, if he were to run ashore 
in Boston bay, as several splendid ships had done 
within the last three years. He mentioned sev- 
eral anecdotes in relation to different vessels, one 
of which ran ashore near Boston Light, with a 
valuable Liverpool cargo ; so near, said Captain 
D., that her jib-booom came within a few feet of 
running into the lantern I If it had been a little 
longer, he thought that it would have put out the 
lights! (Hear, and cheers ) He was first to go 
on board of her; Cai)tain Sturgis was the next. 
There were no chain cables out, but both anchors 
were on the bow : when she went on, a pilot-boat 
was in full chase of her, to inform the captain, 
who was a green young man from Maine, of the 
danger he was in ! 

Captain Dill asked why these accidents occur- 
red so often of late to our merchant ships ? They 
had got to be an almost every day occurrence. 
He attributed them to the causes mentioned by 
his friend, Captain James. Navigation was very 
well, but without some judgment it was not worth 
much. Why don't we hear of our fishing vessels 
getting on shore ? You never hear of one. Ca- 
ses are very rare, certainly ; and it is not because 
their commanders have the theory of navigation 
perfect. No, no. They are good navigators, 
nevertheless : Xhey feel their way, use the lead at 
the proper time, have good judgment, and exer- 
cise it. Why, Mr. Chairman, (.said Capt. D. feel- 
ingly) I have known the captain of a fishing 
schooner, belonging to New England, to go to 
Cape Sable, all round the Bay of Fundy, thence 
on to George's Bank, stretch off to Cape May, 
and thence all along the coast to New- Orleans, 
where he would pack out, with a full cargo offish. 
And this captain had nothing but a shingle and a 



APPENDIX. 



51 



piece of chalk to aid him : he did n't trust so much 
to his reckoning as he did to his judgment, and 
the constant use of his lead. Captain Dill could 
not but think that some improvement would soon 
take place, that the number of shipwrecks would 
be lessened ; if lliey were not less frequent, the 
people of Hull would have to petition the Hu- 
mane Society to send down two more lil'e-boals. 
One of those now on the beach had done good 
service, having been the means of saving about 
FORTY mariners. [Captain Dill look his seat a- 
midst thunders of applause.) 

Capt. D. was followed by other Hull naviga- 
tors, whose remarks were similar to those already 
given. The resolutions were then adopted with 
acclamation, and the Shade ol Alden was re- 
quested to print them in the history of Hull, that 
they may be instrumental in preventing, in some 
degree at least, the recurrence of such accidents 
on Long beach and its vicinity. 

Several instances were mentioned, in which 
valuable dry goods, hardware, tin, and copper, 
had been thrown overboard as coal and salt, (and 
so reported in the Boston papers !) and had been 
fished up by wreckers. One Hullonian, it was 
said, had succeeded in hauling up thirty-four 
boxes of copper and galvanized tin, in three days, 
besides other valuable articles. 

Some remarks were made in relation to the 
meanness of certain underwriters. One speaker 
slated, that Mr. Tower, last winter, left Hull at 
4 o'clock, P. M. in the midst of a driving N E. 
storm, the snow a foot and a half deep, and trav- 
elled horse-back to Boston, to give information 
that the ship Lapland, from Liverpool, with a 
valuable cargo, was ashore upon Long beach. 
His mission was successful : the tug-steamer 
Robert B. Forbes went down, and saved the ship 
and cargo, the crew and passengers. Mr. Tower 
reached home again at 2 o'clock the next morn- 
ing, having been on horse-back about eiglit hours. 
The underwriters paid him for his valuable and 
commendable services only sixteen dollars, one 
half of which he had to pay on the road for extra 
horses. Mean enough I Adjourned. 



B. 
IMPROVEMENTS IN HULL. 

{*NoTE— June, 1S4S.) We are glad to find 
that a change for the better has come over the 
good people of Hull since 1845. They have 
waked up considerably within one yea.-, and the 
town is now going ahead at a pretty smart rate. 
The politics of the voters have undergone a ma- 
terial change : the whig-s now outnumber the de- 
mocrats, more than three to one. At the con- 
gressional election in April last Mr. Mann received 
24 votes and Mr. Whittaker only 6. The former 
is everywhere known as a zealous friend of edu- 
cation, and a man of brilliant intellectual powers, 
while the latter was unknown to the people of 
Hull. At the previous gubernatorial election, in 
the fallof 1S47, Mr. Briggs received 19 votes and 
Mr. Cushing 9 : the military men did not turn 
out in their full strength, owing to some supposed 
indignity cast at them by the governor. At the 
last general training, in May, there were twenty- 
four names on the muster roll— as we learned 
from Capt. Lawton, a good officer and excellent 
disciplinarian. At this present writing, the vo- 
ters are, almost to a man, democratic whigs, and 
friendly to Gen. Taylor as next president. They 
consider hira in every respect competent, as well 
as honest, and faithlul to the Constitution. Tliis 



is all the HuUonians want. His noncommiial 
disqualifications, spoken of by some of his oppo- 
nents, are the qualities most admired by the Hul- 
loiiians. The vote in November will probably 
stand thus : for Gen. Taylor 40, for Gen. Cass 2, 
uncertain (Mr. Reed) 1. The war cry is, As goes 
Hull, so goes the State and the Country ! 

The town has now a minister, and pays him a 
moderate salary : h'^ is a Methodist, and appears 
peculiarly well fitteu f r the station he occupies. 
His name is Bates. He is a good preacher, in- 
tellectually strong, and has a bold delivery ; he is 
sixty-eight years old, but looks much younger. 
In addition to this, Father Bates is a philosopher : 
he is passionately fond of conchology, geology, 
botany, and mineralogy. Having travelled much, 
and possessing a discriminating taste, his collec- 
tion of marine shells and mineral specimens is 
extensive and splendid. We believe he has as 
many as three hundred difl'erent kinds, in a tine 
state of preservation ; and he takes delight in ex- 
plaining their peculiar properties. In his preach- 
ing, he reminds one of Father Taylor, the justly 
celebrated and popular seamen's friend. He sheds 
tears con a-more, and makes his hearers weep 
with him. In short, he partakes largely of the 
characters of Whitfield and Linnteus; and no 
one can listen to his preaching, or hold an hour's 
conversation with him, in relation to the vast, un- 
fathomable depth of the Creator's power, without 
being charmed. He sees the hand of a beneficent 
Almighty Being in every thing; in every pebble 
washed upon the shore, and every rock that lifts 
its frowning peak above the heads of tempest- 
tost mariners ; in the Ocean, and the myriads of 
living creatures which swarm, increase and mul- 
tiply in its waters ; in the countless sands of the 
sea-shore, and their millions of living inhabitants ; 
in the fields and pastures, in every vegetable and 
every blade of grass that grows, and in the varied 
flowers and fruits which everywhere meet us on. 
the land, imparting health and comfort to the 
heart of every christain, and a refreshing odor to 
his senses. We will add, that he is asfullof rich 
anecdotes, as Gen. Jackson was of indomitable 
moral courage and stern Roman virtue. Father 
Bates was born in Cohasset : he followed fishing 
until he was fourteen years of age, when he went 
to Vermont to be educated. 

As we have before said, the HuUonians, after 
enjoying a comfortable Rip Van Winkle sleep, 
are waking from their slumbers much refreshed 
and invigorated. There is not a man in the town 
who will now wear a pair of his father's old shoes 
if he can get a new and better pair ; and, in every 
other respect, in all modern improvements in 
husbandry and navigation, the people keep pace 
with those of the neighboring towns ; in fishing 
and wrecking, they excel all others. Baby jump- 
ers have been recently introduced with success, 
and are fast taking the place of the cradles used 
a century or two since by the early settlers. 

We like Hull on many accounts. We like it, 
on account of its retired situation, the simplicity 
and industry of its inhabitants, the cooling salu- 
brity of its atmosphere, its quietness and health- 
fulness as a retreat for the summer months, its 
proximity to the sea, where fish of every kind 
are caught in abundance, and, in short, for the 
numerous pleasing associations which cluster 
around its early history, from the landing of our 
Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth to the close of the 
revolutionary war. A man who has a particle of 
philosophy in him, and who is at all acquainted 
with the history ot our country, can always find 
in these healthy food for the mind. The old fort, 



52 



APPENDIX. 



which was erected during the revoliuion by the 
whigs of thai perilous day, still stands there, a 
monuiiieiu to tlieir patriotic valor and iiuloniila- 
hle perseverance, and as a memento, to the pres- 
ent and future generations, of the chivulric bear- 
ing of the gallant Frenclimen, Lafayette and his 
compeers, who rendered our young republic in- 
valuable service in the great and trying and 
doubtful days of her struggle with the motlicr 
country, for liberty, e(iuabty, and the rights ol 
man. For all these, and many more that we 
could mention, do we like the '• smallest town in 
the I'ay State." Then, should it not be a matter 
of gratification to every man in the Old Colony to 
see her going ahead once more ? 

A\'itliin a year or t\\-o pabt, as we noticed in 
our walks lately, the following improvements 
have taken place. Wr. Tower lias enlarged his 
hotel considerably, and has just built an extensive 
portico round it, which affords a very desirable 
promenade and shade to his customers. He lias 
also added several sleeping-rooms to the main 
building, which are neatly and handsomely fur- 
nished, and he can now accommodate some forty 
lodgers very comfortably. His boats are new, 
stanch, neat, and well litted for company ; two oi 
them, the Susan and the Odd Fellow, are as swift 
on the wing, and as stiU'and majestic, as an eagle 
in midair; the former is large, and can accom- 
modate a party of thirty or forty persons. His 
horses and carriages are in good trim, his larder 
well stocked, and he is ready to receive the calls 
of his friends. Of his chowders, fried fish, and 
more substantial viands, it is needless to speak : 
'■ old wine needs no bush" : Mrs. Tower is al- 
ways at home. This lady is as celebrated for 
her cookinff, as Shaks|>eare was for writing good 
plays, or Dr. Channing for preaching excellent 
sermons. 

Mr. Henry Tudor, at his end of the town, which, 
as the Hon. Tom ShufHelon would say, is the 
West end, has just completed a spacious hotel, 
near the Point, which will accommodate sixty 
lodgers. It has been taken by Mr. Harrington, 
an enterprising, competent young gentleman from 
Boston, who has tilled the liouse up in a neat and 
handsome manner : from kitchen to garret every 
article is new, and his facilities for accommodat- 
ing large i)ariies equal to those of any hotel on 
the seaboard. His dining-room i.s large, his 
kitchen roomy and theappendatres well arranged, 
and, under the supervision of his wife and com- 
jietcnt assistants, will tell a good story to visiters. 
The parlor and other rooms on the lower floor 
are well arranged, and cannot liiil to attract atten- 
tion. His parlors and sleeping rooms on the se- 

■ coiid and third floors, thirty-eight in number, are 

■ all newly furnished, with hair mattresses, wind- 
less bedsteads, fine bed-linen, (Jcc. This estab- 
lishment cannot fail to be popular with the pub- 
lic, and be considered tpiite an acquisition to the 
venerable town of Hull It is wiihin fifteen 
minutes sail of the fishing ground, off George's 
Island, and the shores abound wiih small fish. 
Mr. Harrington has several fine sail-boats, and 
good carriages for those who prefer riding to sail- 
ing or tishing The Hingham steam-boat stops 
at Hull two or three times a day. Parlies from 
the country can take that boat, go to Hull, fish 
several hours, partake of an excellent dinner, en- 
joy the town and the scenery, and be back again 
in Boston in season to take the evening railroiid 
trains for home. There has been some curiosity 
excited touching the style of architecture adopted 
by the builder of the new hotel. Our friend 
Deacon Bubble, and other Hull architects, have 

pronounced it the pure Tudorean. 



Mr. Harrington settles in Hull under very fa- 
vorable auspices ; and if the Whigs do not give 
him a generous supjiort, they ought to be beaten 
at the next presidential election. He has a comely 
wife, active and intelligent in her movements; 
and this good lady, some si.x months ago, blessed 
her husband and her country with two beautiful, 
chubby, blue-eyed boys, at one birth ; one of 
them has received the name of Zachary Taylor, 
the oihcr that of Winlield Hcotl They are called 
by the military men of Hull the " two generals " 
We have had the little fellows in our arms, and, 
as the people of the interior say, " they look like 
two peas from the same pod:" there is not a 
shade of diflerence in their appearance. It is 
well worth a visit to Hull to see them. Harring- 
ton will make his fortune by these boys : if they 
were girls, the whigs would not probably give a 
doubloon for the lot ! But speaking of babies, 
we ought to mention that the " better half" of our 
friend Tower adds something to the rising gene- 
ration every now and then : her little Moses, now 
five months old, is as athletic, pretty an infant, as 
there is in Hull ; and it is possible that he may 
grow up to serve his country, in some future war, 
under ane of the little generals at the new hotel. 
He will soon be in the bulrushes. We shall see, 
as Father Ritchee says. 

Among other improvements in Hull, since 1S45, 
it should be mentioned that two wharves, for the 
accommodation of vessels, steam-boats, and fish- 
ermen, have been built ; one by Mr. Mitchell, a 
short distance from Tower's hotel, which is 170 
feet long and 100 wide. It is a substantial siruc- 
ture, well put together, and built partly of stone : 
it cost about 2000 dollars. Mr. Tudor has extend- 
ed his wharf, by adding an L to it, 50 by 60 feet : 
his wharf is now about 200 feet long — the depth 
of water at the end of it, at low tide, is from 10 to 
12 feet. This wharf, vvliicli appears to be an ex- 
cellent piece of wovkmanshij), and as strong as 
iron and heavy oak and spruce spiles can make 
it, was built by Mr. Cushnian, of East Boston, a 
faithful and ingenious mechanic. 

In addition to the improvements spoken of, it 
may be stated that two handsome cottages, for 
private residence, have just tieen erected back 
of Mr. Tower's ; Mr. Mitchell has built two fine 
bowling allies on tlie old fort, and many beautiful 
pleasure boats have been added to the squadron 
of last year. The Marcus Morton is still without 
her promised suit of colors : she belongs to young 
Cook, as fine a fellow, and as a safe a boatman, as 
there is in Hull. And then there is our friend 
Sawyer, of the same school — one of the best ))ilots 
of his age in Boston harbor: his new and beauti- 
ful Belle, ill her dress of briglit green, '"walks the 
water like a thing of life." The Henry Clay has 
taken her old name, the Bare- Foot; and the 
Susan Hawes, belonging to Mitchell, a fine boat, 
and the Chip- Hat, are about to be added — the 
latter will lu) doubt [irove the fastest sailer in the 
bay. It is jiroposed to get up a Regatta at Hull 
in a few weeks, under the direction of Skipper 
Hayden. Hull bay is the best and most favorable 
sheet of water on our coast for purposes ol' that 
kind, either for rowing or sailing it is often 
graced with the presence of Gen. Winchester's 
Northern Lij,'ht and other beautiful yachts from 
Boston. The Hull boatmen, than whom there 
are none more skilful, will probably despatch 
their challenge soon, and extend it to the North 
shore as far as Cape Ann. 

A new town-hall is in progress near the pond 
in front of Main-street, which will cost about a 
thousand dollars. The upper room is to be devo- 



APPENDIX. 



53 



Jed to town-meetingf!, and tlie lower one to edu- 
cation and religion. We have thus shown, we 
think, that llnil is going ahead. She only wants 
a little more enterprise among some of lier old and 
wealliiiest citizens, a sure and regular intercourse 
with Boston, and a lew thousand dollars ("rom the 
ca|)italists of that flourishing city, and she v.'ill 
loom u|j like an ocean-ni-onarch making for the 
shore under full sail 

The Mayflower, Capt. Beal, will touch atHuU 
daily, during tlie summer months, on her way 
from and to Boston. Tlirec years ago, it was 
said in a letter published in a Bo.-ston paper, com- 
pliiTientary to the captain, that he had held more 
babies in his arms than all the nurses on the South 
shore. M'e are glad to find that our old and re 
spected friend has lost none of his gracefulness 
in this respect, and none of his love and afleclion 
for babies and yoiingchildren, since the period we 
refer to. What a bles.<ed saying was thai of 
which we read in the Bfljie: " Sufler little chil- 
dren to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom 
of Heaven." 

We cannot conclude this notice of Hull, with- 
out saying a few words in relation to the public 
houses on the South side of the beach ; but these 
are so well known that it would seem to be an 
act of superogation to speak particularly of them. 
That of Mr. Ripley has been a popular place of 
resort from the day of its ojiening to the present 
time. He has a house of great capacity, elegant 
accommodations, an airy and healthful situation, 
and his tables groan with the good things of the 
sea and sand and the Boston market. The liock- 
land is decidedly the crack house on the South 
shore ; and we consider Mr. Strong, so favorably 
known at the Old Colony, an agreeable acquisition 
to it. Much may be said in praise of Mr, Lea- 
vitt's eleg'ant and e.vtensive establishment, which 
has also l>een doing a prosperous business. Our 
ancient friend Worrick. too, upon whose head the 
frosts of fifty winters have acciunulated but few 
grey hairs, he is as bright, agreeable and thrifty 
as ever, and has a generous share of patronage ; 
while the houses all alongshore, at Cohasset, (he 
Glades, &c contiime to sustain themselves hand- 
somely, and during the summer months are over- 
run with customers. The dig-nityan<J progres- 
sive characterof the South shore have been well 
kept up by our friends, and there is every reason 
to believe that they have been satisfied with the 
result. 

W^e have purposely refrained from saying any 
tiling in praise of Cap't. Little, of the Union Ho- 
tel, in Hingham, as he has for years had some of 
liie best company of any public house in that vi- 
cinity, and is universally considered a most ac- 
commodating, gentlemanly, '-capital fellow." 



C. 

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF 

JOHN MITCHELL. 

A FEW items in relation to the cliararter of 
this mysterious and much talked about individ- 
ual may not be unacceptable. It is due to tlie 
reader, however, to state, that there is nothin<r 
striking in the life of Miteliell. He has attained 
a remarkable degree of notoriety, like some oth- 
er men we could name, without having done 
much to deserve it. 

He was born in a small interior town near 
the Gulf of Venice, or Adriatic sea, fifty-seven 



years ago. His parents were respectable, but 
not in easy circumstances. In his youth, he 
was like most other boys : he went to school — 
studied, to suit his own convenience — learned 
something — occasionally played with the imps 
of his Satanic majesty, innocently — and, finally, 
ran away from his parents. This was about as 
much as was expected of boys in his country 
until they were fourteen years of age. He early 
evinced a roaming disposition. After travelling 
bare-footed tliirty-six miles, he reached a sea- 
]K)rt town on the Gulf of Venice, and shipped 
as a cabin-boy, in which capacity he served two 
years, in different vessels, without any remarka- 
ble circumstance occurring to him. He then fol- 
lowed the seas three years as an ordinary sea- 
man, Avas often in battle,, several times captured 
and impressed on board British war-ships, and 
always deserted .the first favorable opportunity. 
He was also in the French navy ; but was nev- 
er concerned in a piracy, or an act of pillage of 
any kind. 

Before he was seventeen years of age, Mitch- 
ell was in several severe naval engagements, but 
was never wounded, althougli lie often wounded 
others. He has the organ of combativeness 
strongly ^developed, even in liis old age. Af- 
ter passing throvigh the vicissitudes and hard- 
ships incident to the life of a sailor, he at last 
found himself in the United States, having visi- 
ted almost every place of commercial import- 
ance on the habitable globe. 

Mitchell came to Boston in 1 809, at the age 
of eighteen, and was soon employed, as a rig- 
ger, by the late Cornelius Coolidge, Capt. John 
Holland, Mr. McClennen,* and others, and was 
considered a pretty skilful workman. He was 
always industrious,"and through life has evinced 
much shrewdness. Even at this day, he is very 
active, and can go through as much severe duty 
as a man of twenty-five. 

After leaving Mr. McClennen, IMitchell was 
engaged by the proprietors of the news room in 
the old Exchange Coffee House, to board ves- 
sels, collect ship news, manage the boat, &c. ; 
and the acquaintance of the writer of this notice 
with him commenced about that time. 

In 1815, after the peace with Great Britain, 
Miteliell bought a small schooner, and went on 
several trading voyages to the British jirovhi- 
ces. These proving successful, he removed to 
Hull, in 1819, where he lived two years. He 
then went to Lovell's Island, and there he resi- 
ded four years, liuilt a liouse, dug a costly well, 
followed lobstering. fishing, and lightering, and 
cleared $600. Afterwards, he "removed to 
Charlestown, whei'e he resided twelve years. 
Finally, he went bac k to Hull, and bought the 
large and convenient house he lives in for $1000, 
with the intention of stopijing there the remain- 

* This gentleman was a respectable master 
rigger, a Forthillcr, and his death was a singu- 
lar one. He had a liad corn on one of his sniall 
toes, which troubled him insupportably one day, 
when he went home, took a razor, and deliber- 
ately cut the toe off at one of the joints. The 
lockjaw set in, and he died in a few days, much 
regretled. 



54 



APPBNDIX. 



der of his days. But possessing a restless dis- ' 
position, as we have already sliown, lie removed 
to Cluirlestown and Boston af^uin, wliere he 
lived several years more, and tlicncc to Hull. 
This is a history of his " \vhereal)0iits," as we 
received it from his own lips a month ago. He 
has had three wives, all of whom have been pro- 
lific. His oldest son, an in<lustrious, exemplary 
man, is abont forty years old, while his young- 
est is not over four. | 

Mr. Mitchell has experienced all the reverses 
.of fortune incident to the life of a man of activ- 
ity and enterprise. He has been rich one day, 
and poor the next; but, like a cat, he always 
fell upon his feet. We believe he has been 
through Chancery successfully two or three 
times. In 1836-37, as he informs us, he owned 
about a dozen brigs and schooners, all clear, and 
all of which were duly registered at the Boston 
customhouse, in his own name ; besides these, 
he owned real estate and other property, upon 
which he paid taxes regularly. He owned a 
wharf in Cluirlestown, which cost him a consid- 
erable sum of money ; and he was ofien em- 
ployed by the late Com. Hull and Amos Binuey, 
who always found him prompt and useful. 

At the present time, we believe, Mitchell owns 
four schooners only, which belong to Hull. He 
has some real estate there, also, but whether it 
is unencumbered or not we have no knowledge. 
He has been indefatigable in his labors as a 
wrecker — has assisted in saving the wrecks of 
many vessels, with their cargoes, and has re- 
ceived from the owners of them from $300 to 
$3000 each, for his services. He has frequently 
had to encounter much difliculty in the settle- 
ment of his claims upon underwriters, who 
have not faileil to speak of his character and 
conduct with much freedom. With some of 
the Boston insurance offices he has had law 
suits, in one of which he received a judgment 
in the U. S. District Court, amounting to about 
S.^OOO salvage money. He informs us that he 
lias saved, by his own unaided exertions, as ma- 
ny as twenty human lives ; and in cases almost 
innumerable has assisted in saving the lives of 
shipwrecked mariners. This is his story — a 
part of it wc know to be true. 

Mitchell is sensible that his character does 
not stand A 1, among some of the underwriters 
in State-street. But this fact docs not appear 
to annoy him in the least. He tells us tliat he 
means to do well, and to act fairly in bis deal- 
ings with every one ; but he will have his rights 
— he will have justice done h'm. even at the 
hazard of going into a courtroom for damages. 
He manages his wrecking business very coolly. 
As soon as he hears that a vessel is on shore, 
he fits out one of his schooners, with grappling 



irons, and all the other necessary appendages 
for fishing up valuable articles from the bottom 
of the sea. and proceeds to the place desigtuited, 
taking with liini four or five of his men. Some- 
times he is wholly unsuccessful ; at other times 
his exertions pay him well for his trouble. He 
has now in his possession considerable valuable 
property which was recently thrown overboard 
from a ship from Liverpool. He had to make 
two voyages to obtain it; but he is willing to 
give it up to its rightful owners, they proving 
property and paying him a fair salvage for his 
exertions in saving it, wliich he jiuts at fifty per 
cent, upon the value of the articles saved. We 
know but little about the mode of settling such 
ditlieulties, but have understood from Mitchell 
that this is now his way of settling them. 

On the water, Mitchell is perfectly fearless — 
there is no danger that he is unwilling to en- 
counter, no risk that he is afraid to run, to ac- 
complish his purpose. We can mention an an- 
ecdote in point. A few weeks since he had one 
of his schooners in Boston, partially loaded 
with lumber and paints for bis own use. To- 
wards evening he gave his captain and crew 
liberty to go ashore, with the understanding that 
the vessel must go down to Hull that night, on 
the ebb tide — the wind blowing fresh from the 
N W. The old man waited for them until 12 
o'clock, three hours over the time appointed for 
their return, when, there being no signs of their 
appearance, he got under way, without assist- 
, auce, and carried his schooner down safe to her 
' moorings in Hull bay, in two hours. " Alone, 
he did it." No insurance on the vessel or cargo. 
We repeat, there is nothing retnarkaljly start- 
j ling in the life of Mitchell. He is conscious 
that he has many enemies, some of whom con- 
[ sider him a pirate, others a smuggler, aiul oth- 
I crs, again, a man of dishonest principles in all 
[ things ; but these denunciations and suspicions 
1 apparently give him no uneasiness. At the 
proper time, the public will probably have an 
authentic account of his life, under his own sig- 
nature. He has about three hundred letters on 
file, some of them from wealthy men ; Imt this 
is not the time to publish them. If Mitchell 
has been a smuggler, he has had strong backers. 
But he is not precisely the individual many sup- 
l)Ose him to be. At a late phrenological exhi- 
iiition in Hull a large number of citizens had 
their heads examined by a jiujiil of the celebra- 
ted Fowler, who gave this individual the ere 
of possessing the best and largest head for sci- 
entific development and investigation of any 
man in that town : the prominence of his bumps 
was striking beyond any thing he had previously 
seen. This fact wc have learned from several 
persons who were present. 



NOTICE TO READERS. 



This work has been delayed several days, in order that we might add to it a well 
executed engraving from a design by young Billings, one of the most promising artists 
in this country. But the engraver has disappointed us, and the picture will be given 
in the second edition. 

That part of our Notes on the Sea-Shore which relates to Squantum will be found 
quite interesting. We have endeavored to make it correct, and hope that it is so, for 
one of the objects we have in view is to give correct historical data in a pleasing form. 
Our early historians inform us, that a female personage of the name of Squantum was 
the last of the race of King Squanto, the chief of the tribe of Mattapan, who died in 
1622. He had been treacherously carried off by a number of his tribe to Spain, from 
whence he escaped to England, was treated with tenderness, and came to his native 
forests with the Plymouth colony. Hutchinson says he was a better friend to the 
whites than ever Massasoit was, and continued friendly to them until his death, be- 
fore which he desired the governor to pray that he might be received by the white 
man's God in Heaven. 

In some of our notes, we have spoken in the fii'st person singular, and then again 
in the third person. This is an unavoidable blemish. 

Book No. II is in press, and will be published about the 10th of August. It will 
be of the same size as this pamphlet, and embrace an account of the North Shore, as 
far as Cape Ann, some of the islands in Boston harbor, Boston and its environs, sev- 
eral towns on the South Shore, an account of the progress of steam during the last 
fifty years, and some other matters of interest. 

The writer, in his hasty descriptions, may unintentionally have omitted to notice 
some important places. If he has done so, he would like to be informed of the fact. 
He may be found at the office of Mr. Chadwick, No. 18, Exchange-street. 

Boston, July 28th, 1848. 



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NOTES 




ON THE 



SEA-SHORE 



OR 



RANDOM SKETCHES, 



In relation to the ancient town of Hull, its settlement, its inhabitants, and its social 
and political institutions ; to the fisheries, fishing parties, and boat sailing ; to Boston 
harbor and its islands; to Plymouth, Cohasset, Hingham, Weymouth, Squantum, 
Quincy, &c. ; to wrecks and wreckers ; to an indignation meeting at Hull, to 
protest against the frequency of shipwrecks on our coast ; anecdote of Mitchell, and 
a sketch of his character ; to the ministers of Hull, from its first settlement ; to the 
Massachusetts Humane Society ; to the disastrous effects of the sea upon the islands 
in Boston harbor ; to remarkable fish stories, and the making of fish and clam chow- 
ders : to frotr-fishinG;, clam-dio-oino;, lobster-catchinsr, and hoo;-killing, at Hull : in short, 
to some two or three hundred other interesting subjects, all of which are noticed in the 
table of contents. 



BY THE "SHADE OF ALDEN." 



HE WnO MAKES TWO MEN LAUGU WUEKE ONLY ONE LAUGHED BEFOKE, 
IS A BENEFACTOR OF THE HUMAN BACE. 




BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY EEDDING & CO., STATE STREET, 



AND FOE SALE BY BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY. 



1848. 



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